L.FRANK  TOOKER 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Professor 
Frank  W.  Wadsworth 


»— t>LJra-o< 


UNDER  ROCKING  SKIES 


"  There  was  a  twinkle  in  Captain  March's  eyes 


BY 


L.    FEANK    TOOKER 

AUTHOR  OP 
"THE  CALL  OF  THE  SEA,"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK 

THE   CENTURY   CO 

1905 


Copyright,  1905,  by 
THE  CENTURY  Co. 

Published  October,  1905 


COLONIAL   PRESS 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 
Boston,  U.S.A. 


PS 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

"  THERE  WAS   A   TWINKLE  IN   CAPTAIN   MARCH'S 

EYES  "......         Frontispiece 

"THE  BRIG  WAS  SLIDING  DOWN  THE  SEAS  LIKE  A 

BOY  LET  LOOSE  FROM  SCHOOL  "  .  .63 

"  '  YOU  WILL  NEED  THE  PATIENCE,'  SHE  SAID  "  .  113 
"  THEY  HEARD  HIM  WHISTLING  FOR  A  -WIND  "  .  141 
"  THERE  CAME  A  '  SMOOTH,'  AND  THE  BOAT 

SHOT  IN  "  .  .  .  .  .  •  •  •  195 
" '  KEEP  'EM  GOING  !  DON'T  LET  'EM  SLACK  UP  A 

BIT!'"  ...  255 


857123 


UNDER  ROCKING  SKIES 


UNDER  ROCKING  SKIES 


FOR  a  quarter  of  an  hour  Thomas  Med- 
bury  had  been  standing  at  the  east  win 
dow  of  his  mother's  parlor,  gazing  out  across 
his  neighbor's  yard  with  an  eager  intentness 
that  betrayed  a  surprising  absorption  in 
a  landscape  without  striking  features  and 
wholly  lacking  in  any  human  interest.  The 
low-studded  room  in  which  he  stood  was 
closely  shut  and  darkened,  having  about  it 
the  musty  smell  peculiar  to  old  houses. 
There  were  sea-fans  before  the  fireplace, 
flanked  on  each  side  by  polished  conch-shells. 
On  the  wall  hung  an  oil-painting  of  the  brig 

3 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

North  Star,  with  all  sail  set,  and  at  her  fore- 
truck  a  white  burgee,  with  her  name  in 
red  letters,  standing  straight  out  in  half  a 
gale  of  wind.  Family  portraits  in  oval  gilt 
frames  were  ranged  with  mathematical  pre 
cision  along  the  remaining  wall-spaces,  and 
on  the  mantelpiece  stood  a  curious  collection 
of  objects  brought  from  far  lands  —  carved 
ivories  and  strange  ware  from  China,  pecu 
liar  shells,  a  Japanese  short  sword,  and  a 
South  Pacific  war-club.  No  one  would  have 
needed  to  be  told  that  it  was  the  home  of  a 
sailor. 

Indeed,  a  keen  observer  might  have 
guessed  it  from  the  young  man  himself. 
He  was  tall  and  broad-shouldered,  and 
bronzed  to  the  color  of  overripe  wheat.  His 
eyes  had  the  steady,  far-seeing  look  of  the 
seaman,  but  were  not  yet  marked  about  by 
the  crow's-feet  that  the  glare  of  the  sun  on 
the  sea  brings  early  in  life.  It  was,  more 
over,  a  strong  face,  straightforward  and 

4 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

pleasant,  and  irradiated  by  an  almost  boyish 
eagerness. 

Suddenly  he  leaned  forward  with  quick 
ened  interest  as  the  door  of  his  neighbor's 
house  opened,  and  there  stepped  forth  a 
short,  stout  man  of  sixty,  who  stood  a  mo 
ment  for  a  last  word  and  then  hurried  down 
the  boxwood-lined  path.  He,  too,  was  clearly 
a  sailor:  he  walked  with  his  feet  far  apart, 
like  a  man  so  habituated  to  the  rolling  deck 
that  it  seemed  a  waste  of  time  and  energy 
to  alter  his  gait  on  the  rare  occasions  when 
he  trod  the  firm  ground.  Medbury  perceived 
that  his  face  wore  a  look  of  placid  satisfac 
tion,  and  with  the  tightening  of  the  lines  of 
his  own  to  an  unspoken  resolution,  he  hurried 
through  the  house  and  across  the  yard,  and, 
vaulting  the  low  dividing  fence,  approached 
his  neighbor's  back  door. 

He  lifted  the  latch  without  knocking,  and 
at  once  came  face  to  face  with  a  wet-eyed 
young  woman  standing  at  a  table  and  list- 

5 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

lessly  cutting  out  sugar-cookies  with  a  tin 
mold.  A  child  of  four,  leaning  against  her, 
reached  eagerly  for  the  cutter,  and  a  boy  of 
ten  sat  near  the  stove,  softly  crying. 

"  Annie,"  said  Medbury,  abruptly, 
"  where's  Bob?  I  want  to  see  him." 

"  He's  up-stairs,  packing.  He's  going  out 
with  Cap'n  Joel  March,"  said  the  young 
woman,  tragically.  The  boy  by  the  stove 
broke  into  a  wail,  and  she  turned  sharply 
toward  him. 

"  Do  stop  it,  Bobbie!  '  she  exclaimed. 
Then  she  walked  toward  the  door  to  call  her 
husband. 

She  returned  at  once,  her  husband,  tall, 
brown,  and  wiry,  walking  behind  her  with 
the  subdued  step  of  a  culprit  who  feels  that 
by  stepping  softly,  smiling  unobtrusively, 
and  gainsaying  no  man,  he  may  escape, 
through  his  humility,  what  he  deserves  for 
his  misconduct.  His  good  -  natured  face 
lighted  up  at  sight  of  Medbury. 

6 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Bob,"  said  Medbury,  without  other  prel 
ude  than  a  nod,  "  I  want  you  to  do  me  a 
favor:  don't  go  out  this  trip  with  Cap'n 
Joel." 

The  other  smiled  uncertainly  and  seated 
himself. 

"  Why,  that's  a  funny  thing  to  ask,  Tom," 
he  said  wonderingly.  "  Annie's  been  at  me, 
of  course ;  but  I  don't  see  what  odds  it  makes 
to  you.  It's  a  good  berth,  and  it  don't  seem 
right  to  let  the  chance  go  by.  Besides,  I've 
promised  the  old  man.  I  can't  back  out 
now. ' ' 

"  But  he  promised  me  he'd  stay  home  a 
spell,"  broke  in  his  wife.  "  He  thinks  that's 
nothing.  He's  just  got  home,  after  being 
away  eleven  months.  Why,  baby  didn't  know 
him!  " 

Under  the  concentrated  gaze  of  her  elders, 
the  child  contemplated  her  father  as  a  blink 
ing  puppy  might  have  looked  at  an  object 
that,  from  being  unfamiliar  and  terrifying, 

7 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

had  gradually  become  an  accepted  but  still 
unexplained  phenomenon.  But  presently  she 
turned  to  Medbury. 

1  i  Him  gived  me  a  pen-n-y, ' '  she  said,  with 
a  serene  gravity  that  seemed  to  concern  itself 
with  the  fact  as  a  historical  statement  rather 
than  as  a  personal  gratification. 

Medbury  seized  her  and  tossed  her,  gig 
gling,  in  his  arms. 

"  He  did,  did  he?  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Well, 
he  doesn't  deserve  to  have  another  if  he 
can't  stay  home  and  get  acquainted  with 
you. ' '  He  seated  himself,  and,  with  the  child 
snuggling  against  him,  turned  to  her  fa'ther 
again. 

"It's  a  shame,  Bob,  after  promising 
Annie.  Mother  says  she  hasn't  talked  about 
anything  for  six  months  except  your  coming 
home  for  a  while.  She  said  you  were  going 
to  paint  the  house  and  fix  things  up,  and 
she's  been  running  around  asking  everybody 
about  the  best  kind  of  paint,  and  planning 

8 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

where  to  set  out  shrubs  and  make  flower 
beds,  and  dig  up  a  little  garden  for  the  chil 
dren.  And  now  you  run  off  at  the  first 
chance!  " 

"  Why,  I  don't  see  why  you  take  it  so  to 
heart,  Tom,"  said  Bob,  smiling,  but  a  little 
grieved.  He  felt  they  ought  to  feel  that  he 
did  it  only  for  the  best. 

"  Well,  I'll  tell  you  why:  I  want  to  go 
myself.  I  asked  Cap'n  Joel  to  take  me,  but 
he  wouldn't  hear  to  it.  Now,  if  he  can't  get 
anybody  else,  he's  bound  to  let  me  go  in 
the  end." 

Bob  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

"  Why,  you're  going  to  have  the  new  bark ! 
What  do  you  care  for  —  ' '  Then  all  at  once 
his  face  broke  into  a  comprehending  grin. 
' '  Oh,  I  see, ' '  he  added.  He  sat  for  a  moment 
smiling  down  at  the  floor.  "  All  right, 
Tom,"  he  said,  looking  up  at  last.  "  I'll 
do  it.  I  wouldn't  for  anybody  else.  I  really 
didn't  want  to  go,  but  I  felt  I  ought  to. 

9 


UNDER   ROCKING    SKIES 

But  what  I'm  going  to  say  to  the  old 
man  —  ' '  He  looked  at  them  with  a  trou 
bled  face. 

"  Nothing,"  replied  Medbury,  promptly. 
He  turned  to  the  boy,  who  was  listening 
eagerly,  the  new  hope  of  keeping  his  father 
at  home  brightening  his  tear-stained  cheeks. 
"  Bobbie,  go  over  and  tell  my  mother  you 
want  my  fish-lines;  .then  run  up  to  Cap'n 
March's  and  tell  him  your  father  can't  go, 
after  all.  And  hurry  right  back;  your 
father's  going  to  take  you  fishing." 

The  boy  went  out  of  the  door  and  over  the 
fence  with  a  wild  whoop  of  unrestrained  joy. 
Medbury  caught  up  a  hat  and  put  it  on  his 
friend's  head. 

"  You'll  find  my  boat  under  Simeon's 
shop;  everything's  in  her,"  he  told  him. 
"  We'll  send  Bobbie  right  down.  And 
hurry;  the  tide's  right  for  fishing  now. 
You  want  to  get  right  off."  He  laughed 
boyishly.  Then  he  gently  pushed  Bob  toward 
10 


the  door  and  watched  him  going  down  the 
street. 

"  Well,  that's  done,"  he  said  to  Annie, 
and  stepped  outside,  with  his  hand  still  hold 
ing  the  latch.  Suddenly  he  looked  back. 
11  Annie,"  he  said,  "  tell  Bob  I  want  him 
to  go  out  with  me  as  mate  when  the  bark's 
finished.  Of  course  that's  six  months  away; 
but  tell  him  to  keep  it  in  mind."  With  that 
he  hurriedly  closed  the  door. 

The  boy  returned,  and  followed  his  father, 
and  five  minutes  later  Captain  March  turned 
in  at  the  gate.  His  face  was  no  longer  placid, 
but  wore  a  look  of  annoyance.  Medbury, 
watching  him,  saw  him  go  away  a  moment 
later,  hurrying  toward  the  harbor,  taking 
shorter  steps  than  usual,  and  biting  his 
bearded  under  lip  in  his  perplexity. 

"  Seems  kind  o'  mean  to  bother  the  old 

fellow,"  Medbury  said  to  himself,  looking 

troubled.     He  shook  the  feeling  off  as  he 

added:    "  I  guess  it's  for  his  good.     Now 

11 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

he'll  look  up  Davis;  he's  the  only  man  he 
can  get." 

As  he  passed  out  of  his  gate,  Annie 
called  to  him  from  her  doorway.  She  was 
smiling. 

"  I  wish  you  good  luck,  Tom." 

11  Thank  you,  Annie,"  he  replied.  "  Don't 
tell  about  this." 

She  shook  her  head  and  laughed. 

"  Not  till  it  comes  out  all  right,"  she 
promised. 

John  Davis  was  sitting  in  the  shipyard 
watching  the  carpenters  setting  up  a  stern- 
post  for  a  new  vessel,  and  there  the  captain 
found  him.  Medbury,  watching  them,  saw 
them  go  away  together;  but  at  the  corner 
of  the  Shore  Road  and  Main  street  they 
separated. 

Half-way  up  High  street,  Medbury  caught 
up  with  Davis. 

"  You're  walking  fast,  John,"  he  said. 

"  Just  shipped  with  Cap'n  Joel,"  Davis 
12 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

replied,  not  slacking  his  gait,  but  rather  in 
creasing  it,  as  befitted  a  little  man,  sensitive 
as  to  his  size,  when  walking  with  a  long- 
legged  companion. 

11  That's  what  I  wanted  to  see  you  about,'* 
Medbury  told  him.  "  You're  not  going." 
He  smiled,  but  he  glanced  uneasily  at  Davis 
out  of  the  corners  of  his  eyes. 

Davis  stopped  and  looked  at  him.  He  was 
a  middle-aged  man  with  a  red  beard  and  an 
uncertain  temper,  and  now  he  stared  at  Med 
bury  with  flushing  face.  Then  he  broke  into 
a  laugh. 

"  I  ain't,  eh?  "  he  demanded  good-na 
turedly.  "I'd  like  to  know  why  not." 

Medbury  smiled  and  laid  his  hand  on  the 
other's  shoulder. 

"  Because  I  want  to  go  myself,  John," 
he  replied.  "  I've  got  to  go." 

Davis  stared  at  him  with  dropping  jaw. 

"You!" 

"  That's  what  I  said,"  Medbury  replied. 
13 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

For  a  moment  Davis  stood  grinning  un 
certainly;  then  he  looked  up. 

"  Where's  the  joke?  "  he  asked.  "  Blamed 
if  I  see  it." 

"  It's  no  joke,"  said  Medbury,  patiently. 
"  I've  got  to  go.  I  can't  tell  why  —  just 
now;  but  some  day  I  may." 

Davis  gazed  up  and  down  the  street  with 
an  abstracted  air;  but  all  at  once  he  drew 
himself  together  and  exclaimed: 

"Well,  I'll  be—"  He  broke  off  sud 
denly,  and,  turning  sharply,  began  to  walk 
back  to  the  village. 

"  Where  are  you  going?  "  asked  Medbury, 
still  standing  in  the  road. 

Over  his  shoulder  Davis  answered  lacon 
ically  : 

"  To  tell  the  ol'  man  I  can't  go."  He  did 
not  stop. 

"It's  mighty  good  of  you,  John,"  Med 
bury  called  humbly.     "  I'll  make  it  up  to 
you  somehow  —  see  if  I  don't." 
14 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

* '  Make  it  up !  "  cried  Davis,  stopping  in 
the  road.  "  I  don't  want  nothin'  made  up. 
You  made  it  up,  years  ago,  when  you  got 
me  out  of  that  affair  in  Para.  You  didn't 
ask  no  questions  that  night;  nor  when  you 
run  across  our  bar  in  that  no'theaster  to 
fish  up  my  boy  when  his  boat  capsized.  I 
don't  know  what  you're  up  to,  and  I  don't 
care.  It's  all  right."  He  waved  his  hand 
lightly,  as  if  to  dismiss  all  obligations,  and 
departed  in  search  of  Captain  March. 

But  half  a  dozen  steps  away,  Medbury 
heard  him  laugh,  and  turned  to  see  him  stand 
ing  in  the  road,  looking  back. 

"  Just  this  minute  saw  what  you  was 
aimin'  at,"  he  called  to  Medbury.  "  Well, 
good  luck  to  you!  "  And,  grinning  to  him 
self,  he  went  his  way. 

"  Now,"    thought    Medbury,    "  if    Oap'n 

March '11  only  keep  his  eyes  open  for  the 

rest  of  the  day,  I  guess  he's  not  going  to 

miss  seeing  me.     I  shall  be  near,  but  not 

15 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

too  near.  Only  I  wish  I  knew  of  something 
to  hurry  him  up  before  too  many  people 
laugh  and  wish  me  luck." 

Fate,  in  the  hands  of  a  woman,  was  to 
do  that  for  him. 


16 


n 


WITH  something  of  the  serene  imper 
turbability  that  was  a  part  of  his 
habitual  attitude  toward  life,  the  Rev.  Rob 
ert  Drew  sat  in  a  rocking-chair  on  the  little 
porch  of  his  house  and,  slowly  rocking,  looked 
out  across  the  waters  of  the  placid  bay  while 
he  awaited  Captain  March's  summons.  For 
twenty-four  hours  he  had  scarcely  stirred 
from  home,  that  he  might  be  in  instant  readi 
ness  for  departure  on  the  coming  of  the  cap 
tain's  messenger;  but  the  messenger  still 
tarried,  and  the  Henrietta  C.  March,  lying 
quietly  at  anchor  off  the  harbor  with  her 
mainsail  up,  seemed  no  nearer  to  sailing  than 
she  had  been  the  day  before. 

It  was  early  in  March  —  March  that  had 
come  in  like  a  lamb  and  now  lay  drowsing 
17 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

under  a  sun  that  hourly  reddened  the  buds 
and  gleamed  white  on  the  salt-meadows  and 
the  shining  boles  of  trees.  There  were  bird 
calls  at  intervals;  barnyard  fowls  sunned 
themselves  in  garden  spaces  and  sent  up 
cloudy  veils  of  dust:  the  life  of  the  earth 
was  awakening.  Drew  could  see  dark  specks 
about  the  harbor's  mouth:  he  knew  that  the 
boats  had  begun  to  go  out  for  flatfish.  The 
thought  of  even  that  mild  activity  moved  him 
to  impatience,  and,  getting  to  his  feet,  he 
walked  to  an  open  window  and  looked  in. 

"  Mother,"  he  said,  "I'm  going  to  find 
Captain  March  and  get  some  reason  from 
him  why  he  doesn't  sail.  He  can  get  a  good 
mate,  I  hear;  I  don't  understand  his  delay 
ing.  I'm  tired  of  it.  If  he  isn't  going,  I 
wish  to  know  it,  and  arrange  for  a  vacation 
elsewhere." 

"  Very  well,  Eobert."  His  mother  looked 
up  brightly.  Her  son  as  an  instrument  of 
strenuous  aggressiveness  amused  her.  She 
18 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

had  the  sense  of  humor,  which  he  had  not 
inherited,  and  it  was  this  sense  that  lured 
her  on  to  add:  "  Don't  say  anything  that 
you  may  regret." 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  answered  gravely,  and  went 
away,  leaving  her  to  the  silent  laughter  that 
always  seemed  to  him,  whenever  he  was  a 
witness  of  it,  as  something  peculiarly  elusive 
and  almost  pagan. 

In  all  Blackwater  there  was  no  cooler  spot 
than  Myron  Beckwith's  boat-shop.  Facing 
the  Shore  Road,  and  standing  on  piles,  with 
big  sliding  doors  opening  at  each  end,  on 
a  hot  summer  afternoon  one  could  always 
find  a  cool  breeze  drawing  through  it  and 
hear  the  water  lapping  about  the  piles  be 
neath  the  floor.  The  panorama  of  village  life 
passed  by  on  the  Shore  Road,  and  at  the  back 
doors  one  could  sit  and  watch  all  the  activity 
of  harbor  and  wharves  and  see  the  vessels 
going  up  and  down  the  sound.  To  sailors 
ashore  and  to  idlers  in  general  it  was  an 
19 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

attractive  spot.  Here  Drew  found  Captain 
March  standing  in  a  little  group  near  the 
rear  doors,  ruminating  on  life. 

"  No,"  he  was  saying,  "  things  go  best  by 
contraries.  A  sailor  ought  to  marry  a  girl 
from  the  inboard,  who  doesn't  know  a  scow 
from  a  full-rigged  ship  and  is  just  a  little 
scart  at  sight  of  salt  water.  A  man  like  the 
dominie  here,"  he  added,  as  Drew  halted  by 
the  group,  "  ought  to  marry  a  girl  who's 
never  been  under  conviction  and  has  got  a 
spice  of  old  Satan  in  her.  That's  what  gives 
'em  variety  and  keeps  'em  interested.  When 
you  know  just  what  you're  going  to  have  for 
your  meals  every  day,  you  kind  o'  lose  in 
terest  in  your  eating." 

* '  Dominie, ' '  said  Jehiel  Dace,  * '  you  ought 
to  get  the  cap'n  to  supply  your  pulpit  while 
you're  off  on  your  vacation.  He's  a  good 
deal  of  a  preacher." 

"  I  have  other  uses  for  him,"  said  Drew, 
with  a  smile. 

20 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  'Twouldn't  be  a  bad  notion  if  we'd  all 
change  places  now  and  then,"  replied  the 
captain.  "  We'd  appreciate  each  other  bet 
ter.  I  don't  know  but  I  could  preach  about 
as  well  as  the  dominie  could  run  the  Henri 
etta  C.  I  ain't  so  sure  about  the  prayers. 
One  thing,  there's  several  in  that  congrega 
tion  I'd  like  to  talk  at." 

"  Nothin'  to  hender  you  from  freein'  your 
mind  as  it  is,"  suggested  Dace,  brightening 
at  the  prospect.  "  You  don't  need  no  pulpit 
for  that." 

There  was  a  twinkle  in  Captain  March's 
eyes,  but  he  shook  his  head. 

"  No,"  he  said  with  an  air  of  finality,  "  it 
wouldn't  be  official.  Wisdom  has  got  to  have 
authority  to  give  it  weight.  Otherwise  it's 
just  blamed  impudence." 

"  That's  so,"  admitted  Dace;  "  that's  a 
good  deal  so.  See  what  a  man  will  take 
from  his  wife  without  —  ' ' 

Captain  March  turned  suddenly. 
21 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  There  he  comes!  "  he  exclaimed,  and 
gazed  steadily  through  the  open  window. 

All  eyes,  turning  in  the  same  direction, 
saw  a  horseman  galloping  down  the  Mount 
Horeb  road.  He  descended  the  hill,  was  lost 
to  sight  behind  the  rigging-loft,  flashed  past 
a  bit  of  the  Shore  Road,  and  was  hidden 
again  for  a  moment  while  they  heard  the 
thunder  of  his  horse's  feet  on  the  mill-creek 
bridge.  Captain  March  seated  himself  and, 
with  knees  wide  apart,  faced  the  land-side 
door. 

In  front  of  the  shop  a  boy  threw  himself 
from  a  panting  horse.  He  walked  straight 
up  to  Captain  March,  and  in  much  the  same 
manner  that  a  courier  might  announce  defeat 
to  a  king,  said : 

"  He  can't  come.  His  wife's  sick,  he  says. 
He  can't  come." 

"  That  settles  it,"  said  the  captain.  "  I 
heard  Simeon  Macy  was  ashore,  and  I 
thought  maybe  I  could  get  him  for  mate. 
22 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

Now  I've  got  to  go  to  the  city  this  afternoon 
and  look  one  up." 

No  one  spoke,  but  every  man  in  the  group 
except  the  captain  and  Drew  thought  of 
Thomas  Medbury,  and  wondered  how  far  a 
man  might  be  justified  in  letting  personal 
reasons  override  necessity  when  his  vessel 
was  loaded  and  ready  for  sea. 

Dace  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence. 

"  As  I  was  savin',"  he  remarked, 
"  speakin'  of  wives —  " 

Some  one  touched  Drew  on  the  shoulder 
and  he  turned  quickly.  It  was  Deacon  Tay 
lor,  anxious  to  talk  over  again  the  debated 
subject  of  a  new  heater  for  the  church. 
When  Drew  was  again  free  the  captain  was 
gone. 

"  Where  did  the  captain  go?  "  he  asked. 

11  My    wisdom    touchin'    wives    reminded 

him  that  his  had  sent  him  on  an  errant," 

answered  Dace.    "  He  went  to  the  market. 

I  suppose  by  now  he's  tryin'  to  explain  to 

23 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Ms  wife  how  he  happened  to  be  three  hours 
late  with  the  meat  for  dinner." 

At  the  market  Drew  was  told  that  Captain 
March  had  gone  home.  When,  after  a  mo 
mentary  hesitation,  Drew  had  gone  thither, 
it  was  only  to  find  Mrs.  March  sitting  by  a 
window,  apparently  watching  for  her  recre 
ant  husband. 

"  And  he  wanted  roast  beef  for  dinner," 
sadly  remarked  that  good  lady  after  she  had 
told  the  minister  that  she  knew  no  more  about 
her  husband's  whereabouts  than  she  knew 
where  Moses  was  buried.  She  turned  her 
face  from  him  for  an  instant. 

"It  is  twelve  o'clock,  lacking  seven 
teen  minutes,"  she  added  in  a  tone  that 
suggested  the  tragic  stage.  Drew  hurried 
away. 

When,  after  a  hopeless  search  for  the 
missing  mariner,  he  wended  his  way  home 
ward  half  an  hour  later,  he  smiled  to  him 
self  as  he  wondered  if  it  was  not  just  as 
24 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

well:  he  could  not  for  his  life  tell  what  he 
could  have  said  to  urge  the  captain  to  sail. 
At  his  gate  he  came  face  to  face  with  a 
breathless  small  boy. 

"  Mr.  Drew,"  he  gasped,  "  Cap'n  March 
he  says  —  he  says  —  you  be  at  —  Myron's 
boat-shop  —  boat-shop  by  half -past  one  — 
yes,  sir.  He's  goin'  to  sail."  Then  he  dis 
appeared. 

In  wonder  Drew  hastened  up  to  his  house, 
to  find  his  mother  kneeling  on  the  floor  and 
strapping  a  satchel. 

"  I've  just  put  some  crullers  and  a  glass 
of  jelly  in  your  bag,"  she  told  him,  without 
turning.  "  I  don't  suppose  you'll  get  a  thing 
that  tastes  like  real  cooking.  And  I  put 
your  winter  flannels  in,  too.  It  will  be 
cold  nights,  and  you  will  sit  out  on  deck 
and  get  chilled  through.  Now  come  to 
dinner." 

"  I  don't  understand  this  sudden  haste," 
said  Drew,  as  he  took  his  seat  at  the  table. 
25 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  I  saw  the  captain  an  hour  ago,  and  he 
showed  no  signs  of  any  impatience  to  be  off. 
It  seems  too  good  to  be  true." 

Mrs.  Drew  laughed. 

'  *  He  says  the  same  of  you, ' '  she  told  him. 
"  But  if  you  really  get  away  you  owe  it  to 
your  mother.  I  am  the  god  out  of  the  ma 
chine —  I.  I  was  tying  up  the  flowering- 
currant  bush  by  the  fence,  and  Captain 
March  came  by.  He  was  hurrying,  my  dear. 
I  never  saw  him  hurry  before.  What  do 
sailors  say  —  rolling  both  scuppers  under? 
Yes;  it  was  like  that.  I  called  to  him  and 
asked  him  if  he  had  seen  my  son.  Yes,  he 
had.  Then  I  told  him  that  if  he  didn't  sail 
soon  you  would  need  a  second  vacation  to 
recover  from  the  nervous  strain  of  waiting 
for  this  one  to  begin.  I  let  him  know  how 
you  had  done  nothing  for  two  days  but  sit 
by  your  baggage  and  start  at  every  sound. 
I  told  him,  too,  that  you  were  constantly  wor 
rying  lest  something  should  happen  to  keep 
26 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

you  at  home  at  the  last  minute ;  so  the  sooner 
you  got  away  the  better." 

"  Oh,  mother!  mother!  "  protested  Drew, 
smiling. 

*  *  Oh,  I  put  it  strongly  —  trust  me  for  that. 
He  said  he  had  seen  you,  but  you  had  said 
nothing.  I  knew  it  would  be  like  that.  Oh, 
you  were  two  Buddhas  sitting  under  the 
sacred  Bo-tree,  contemplating  eternity.  Isn't 
that  what  the  Buddha  is  supposed  to  do? 
You  were  like  that,  you  two,  anyway.  Well, 
he  explained  everything.  He  told  me  that 
two  men  had  promised  to  go  out  with  him 
as  mate,  but  changed  their  minds.  He 
thought  it  queer.  Another  asked  to  go,  but, 
for  personal  reasons,  he  didn't  want  him. 
But  as  soon  as  he  knew  just  how  you  felt 
he  said  he'd  go  right  off  for  this  man.  I 
thought  it  very  good  of  him.  I  hope  the  man 
isn't  a  rough  character.  But,  Eobert,  you 
didn't  tell  me  that  his  wife  and  daughter  are 
going. ' '  She  looked  at  her  son  reproachfully. 
27 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Whose  wife  and  daughter?  I  can't  fol 
low  you,"  he  said. 

"  The  captain's,  of  course." 

"  I  believe  he  did  mention  the  fact  that 
his  wife  and  little  girl  were  going,  but  it 
made  no  impression  on  me,"  Drew  told 
her.  "  I  have  scarcely  thought  of  it 
•since. ' ' 

* '  His  little  girl !  Robert,  haven't  you  ever 
seen  her?  " 

11  No,  mother." 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  knew  of  her,  though 
they  don't  attend  your  church."  Then  she 
changed  the  subject  with  an  abruptness  that 
was  so  characteristic  that  Drew's  thoughts 
slipped  away  from  the  question  he  had  been 
about  to  ask.  ' '  But,  do  you  know, ' '  she  said, 
"  I  think  he  decided  to  go  partly  because 
he  forgot  his  meat  for  dinner  and  he's  afraid 
of  that  round,  good-natured-looking  little 
wife  of  his.  His  hurry  to  get  away  now  looks 
as  if  he  'd  been  too  busy  finding  a  mate  to  get 
28 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

home  earlier.  He  told  me  about  it  with  an 
intimate  chuckle  that  seemed  to  take  me  right 
into  his  family  closet  and  introduce  me  to 
the  skeleton." 

As  Drew  made  his  way  through  Beckwith's 
boat-shop  half  an  hour  later  and  stopped  at 
the  wide  sliding  doors  at  the  rear,  a  large 
yawl  was  lying  at  the  float.  Three  sailors 
sat  on  the  thwarts,  leaning  forward  with 
the  characteristic  rounded  shoulders  and 
relaxed  look  of  idle  seamen.  Up  the  long 
plank  walk  from  the  boat  hurried  a  tall, 
beardless  young  man  of  twenty-eight  or 
thirty.  He  walked  with  a  swinging  gait, 
his  shoulders  were  well  back,  and  his  face 
wore  the  look  of  one  whose  thoughts  were 
pleasant. 

He  glanced  from  Drew  to  his  baggage,  then 
back  to  Drew  again,  and  smiled,  showing  firm 
white  teeth. 

"  Mr.  Drew?  "  His  voice  suggested  a 
query,  but  went  on  again  immediately,  with- 
29 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

out  waiting  for  an  answer:  "  Tumble  in. 
The  old  man's  gone  aboard.  He  wouldn't 
wait." 

He  paused  while  Drew  gathered  up  his 
baggage,  but  did  not  offer  to  assist.  The 
American  seaman  is  no  burden-bearer  for 
other  men. 

The  sailors  in  the  boat  turned  incurious 
faces  as  they  heard  the  two  draw  near,  then 
quickly  rose  and  held  the  yawl  to  the  float 
till  they  were  seated  in  the  stern-sheets.  In 
silence  the  oarsmen  then  took  their  places, 
shipped  their  oars,  and  at  Medbury's  word 
sped  away. 

Drew  looked  at  his  watch  as  they  pulled 
away  from  the  float. 

1 1  It's  not  yet  the  hour  Captain  March  set 
for  leaving,"  he  said.  "  I  hope  I  did  not 
misunderstand  it. ' ' 

"  Oh,  that's  the  old  man's  way,"  replied 
the  other,  lightly.  "  Now  that  he's  really 
off,  he  can't  hurry  fast  enough  —  had  to  get 
30 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

Myron  to  take  him  out  in  a  sailboat  while 
I  was  to  wait  for  you." 

"  Are  you  a  Blackwater  man?  "  asked 
Drew,  later. 

"  Born  here,  and  my  father  and  grand 
father  before  me.  I  guess  that  makes  me 
a  Blackwater  man,  all  right.  My  name's 
Medbury.  You  know  my  mother;  she  goes 
to  your  church." 

Drew's  face  brightened. 

11  Yes,  indeed.  Now  I  understand  why 
I've  never  seen  you,"  he  said.  "  Your 
mother  told  me  that  you  had  not  been  home 
for  more  than  two  years.  I've  not  been 
here  so  long.  She  is  very  cheerful  in  her 
loneliness;  I  often  stop  in  to  talk  to  her." 

' '  Yes, ' '  answered  Medbury,  soberly ;  '  *  she 
told  me.  It  does  her  lots  of  good.  She 
thinks  a  great  deal  of  you."  He  paused  a 
moment,  and  then  said :  "  I  Ve  promised  her 
to  take  no  more  long  voyages.  She's  getting 
old,  and  I'm  all  she's  got." 
31 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 


<  < 


That's  good,"  said  Drew,  heartily.  He 
was  very  fond  of  the  bright-faced  old  woman 
who  had  lived  to  see  the  covetous  ocean  take 
all  but  her  youngest  boy,  and  was  quite  pre 
pared  to  like  her  son  for  her  sake. 


32 


m 


THE  Henrietta  C.  March  was  a  brig  of 
five  hundred  tons  burden,  and  was 
bound  for  Santa  Cruz  in  the  West  Indies; 
and  Captain  March  had  stopped  off  his  home 
port  to  take  aboard  his  wife  and  daughter 
and  Drew,  who  had  been  given  a  long  vaca 
tion  by  his  church.  The  mate  of  the  brig 
had  been  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  for  two 
days  the  captain  had  been  trying  to  get  a 
man  to  fill  his  place. 

It  was  with  an  impression  of  almost  Cru 
soe-like  loneliness  that  Drew  found  himself 
upon  the  deck  when  they  reached  the  brig 
at  last,  and  the  mate,  with  the  crew  at  his 
heels,  had  gone  forward  to  swing  the  boat 
to  her  place  on  the  center-house,  and  then 
33 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

to  the  windlass  to  heave  the  chain  short. 
Drew  set  his  baggage  down  on  the  deck  and, 
walking  forward,  watched  the  men  heaving 
at  the  windlass,  the  jar  and  clank  of  which 
filled  the  vessel.  On  the  quarter-deck  the 
captain,  in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  wearing  a 
shapeless  brown  hat,  walked  back  and  forth, 
occasionally  glancing  aloft  at  the  fly,  which 
was  beginning  to  straighten  out  in  the  fresh 
ening  southwest  breeze.  His  wife  and  daugh 
ter  were  nowhere  in  sight. 

The  clank  of  the  windlass  grew  slower  and 
slower  as  the  cable  shortened,  and  every 
moment  or  two  Medbury  glanced  over  the 
bow.  Finally  he  raised  his  hand  above  his 
head,  and  the  men  came  trooping  down  from 
the  forecastle-deck,  some  going  aloft  to 
loosen  sails  and  others  going  to  various 
stations  with  a  businesslike  directness  that 
seemed  to  Drew  to  be  under  the  guidance 
of  wordless  intuition.  He  stood  leaning 
against  the  fore-rigging  as  two  came  toward 
34 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

him  with  the  unseeing  look  of  nlen  who, 
having  a  duty  to  perform,  recognize  no  ob 
stacle,  and,  gently  pushing  him  aside,  began 
to  throw  to  the  deck  the  coils  of  running 
rigging  against  which  he  had  been  leaning. 
He  moved  from  place  to  place,  always  find 
ing  himself  in  the  way  and  being  pushed 
aside  with  the  silent  directness  that  seemed 
purely  impersonal,  until  at  last,  throwing  off 
his  coat,  he  began  to  pull  with  the  rest.  In 
silence  they  made  place  for  him.  For  a  time 
he  found  his  hands  catching  awkwardly  at 
halyards  and  braces  and  slipping  over  and 
under  other  harder  hands;  then  at  last  he 
caught  the  swing,  and  his  body  rose  and  sank 
with  the  bodies  of  the  others,  and  his  breath 
ing  came  heavily  and  thickened  with  theirs. 
The  minister  had  found  himself. 

It  was  not  until  the  brig  slowly  paid  off, 
heeling  before  the  fresh  breeze,  and  the  out 
ward-bound  song  began  its  chant  about  her 
forefoot,  that  he  gathered  up  his  baggage 
35 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

and  went  aft.     Captain  March  was  at  the 
wheel. 

"  Go  right  down  and  make  yourself  to 
home,"  he  said.  "  They'll  show  you  your 
room.  I  declare,  you  take  a  hold  like  an  old 
hand.  We'll  be  sending  you  aloft  in  a  few 
days." 

Drew  smiled,  but  shook  his  head. 

11  No,"  he  said;  "  I  shall  stick  to  the 
deck." 

As  he  went  down  the  companionway  and 
stepped  across  the  cabin,  he  saw  the  round 
little  form  of  Mrs.  March  kneeling  before  a 
locker  in  what  was  to  be  his  room.  She 
turned  her  head  at  the  sound  of  his  footsteps. 

"  I  thought  I'd  tidy  your  room  up  a  bit," 
she  told  him.  ' '  Gracious  knows,  it  needs  it. 
You'd  think  it  started  out  as  a  carpenter  shop 
or  sail-loft,  but  got  discouraged  and  ended 
up  just  plain  litter.  I  guess  Cap'n  March 
has  left  house-cleaning  out  of  his  almanac. 
And  he  said  this  room  was  clean!  " 
36 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Oh,  I  am  sure  it  will  do  nicely,  Mrs. 
March,"  Drew  replied.  "  My  mother  says 
I'm  fond  of  a  comfortable  disorder." 

"  I  guess  men  are  all  alike  in  that,"  she 
said:  "  they  like  a  clutter  —  they  think  it's 
having  things  handy.  But  I  hope  you'll 
excuse  my  back,"  she  went  on.  "I  was 
just  telling  my  daughter  that  I  was  almost 
ashamed  to  show  my  face  to  you.  There 
I  was  scolding  about  Cap'n  March  being  so 
late,  when  all  the  time  you  and  he  were  so 
anxious  to  get  off  and  he  scurrying  around 
to  find  a  mate.  I  declare,  sometimes  it  seems 
as  if  the  good  Lord  didn't  do  his  best 
by  women  when  he  gave  them  tongues. 
They're  like  drums  to  little  children  —  make 
a  dreadful  noise  and  keep  them  from  better 
things. ' ' 

Drew  smiled.     It  seemed  clear  that  the 
captain  had  used  some  latitude  in  explain 
ing  his  late  return  home.     Meanwhile  Mrs. 
March  was  backing  out  of  the  room. 
37 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  There,"  she  said;  "  it's  in  a  sort  of 
order,  if  you  don't  look  too  close." 

Ten  minutes  later  Drew  came  out  into 
the  cabin,  having  put  away  his  belong 
ings. 

"  I  am  sure  the  room  couldn't  be  better, 
Mrs.  March,"  he  said.  "  It  seems  to  me 
delightfully  cozy  and  neat." 

Mrs.  March  shook  her  head  and  smiled 
as  she  said: 

"  I'd  'a'  been  better  satisfied  if  you  hadn't 
mentioned  its  being  so  nice.  I've  noticed 
this  about  men  folks,  that  when  things  suit 
them,  they  don't  notice  them.  When  Cap'n 
March  talks  and  acts  like  a  man  right  out 
of  the  Bible,  I'm  sure  he's  been  up  to  mis 
chief,  or  else  has  something  unpleasant  on 
his  mind,  one. ' ' 

Drew  laughed  as  he  replied: 

"  Then  I'm  going  to  cultivate  wise  silences, 
Mrs.  March.  I'll  give  you  the  impression  of 
a  man  walking  in  a  dream.  I  have  come  on 
38 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

this  voyage  to  learn  things ;  you  are  not  let 
ting  me  lose  any  time." 

"  Oh,  if  you  came  to  learn  things,  you'll 
be  wasting  time  by  talking  with  the  rest  of 
us :  you  must  go  to  my  daughter  here.  She 's 
been  called  to  that,  you  know  —  to  teach  all 
men  and  nations."  Her  voice  held  a  curious 
note:  pride,  resentment,  anxiety,  all  seemed 
to  marshal  themselves  in  the  words. 

11  Mother!  " 

Drew  turned  quickly  at  the  one  word,  to 
see  the  daughter  standing  in  the  doorway 
of  her  room.  He  noticed  that  while  the  girl's 
brow  was  drawn  in  a  frown,  her  lips  had  the 
undecided  irregularity  of  curve  that  hinted 
at  a  smile  suppressed.  This  study  of  par 
ticulars  did  not  make  him  any  the  less 
alert  to  a  general  impression  of  striking 
beauty.  He  smiled  and  bowed  somewhat 
elaborately,  to  which  the  girl  returned  a 
curt  little  nod,  though  her  answering  smile 
was  friendly. 

39 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

He  had  the  tact  to  seem  not  to  recognize  the 
tension  and  to  turn  to  other  subjects,  and 
he  now  said,  with  a  heartiness  that  seemed 
to  have  long  been  waiting  for  expression,  that 
they  really  were  off  at  last.  His  glance  at 
the  hanging  lamp  over  the  table,  gently  sway 
ing  in  its  gimbals,  had  the  effect  of  bringing 
the  corroborative  testimony  of  its  motion  to 
their  notice,  while  he  went  on  to  add  that  it 
seemed  too  good  to  be  true.  He  said  that 
ever  since  the  brig  had  anchored  off  the  har 
bor  he  had  been  haunted  by  the  fear  that 
something  would  happen  at  the  last  moment 
to  keep  him  at  home.  Not  till  now  had  he 
felt  safe. 

11  It's  the  other  way  about  with  me,"  said 
Mrs.  March.  "  I  shall  not  feel  safe  till  I 
get  home  again.  If  the  Lord  meant  for  us 
to  go  wandering  about  on  the  face  of  the 
waters,  he  would  have  made  them  ^steady 
enough  to  build  roads  on.  If  he  put  people 
'way  on  the  other  side  of  the  earth,  he  meant 
40 


UNDEE   EOCKING   SKIES 

them  to  stay  there  —  and  us,  too, ' '  she  added 
lamely,  but  with  sufficient  clearness. 

Drew  halted  half-way  up  the  companion- 
way. 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  are 
afraid  of  the  sea,  Mrs.  March,"  he  asked, 
"  after  all  your  voyages?  " 

"  I've  been  going  with  Cap'n  March  off 
and  on  for  twenty-five  —  yes,  thirty  — 
years,"  she  answered;  "  yet  I  never  go  out 
of  sight  of  land  without  feeling  that  I'm 
making  faces  at  my  Maker  and  daring  him 
to  punish  me." 

"  Oh,  mother's  fear  is  her  most  precious 
possession,"  said  the  girl,  now  for  the  first 
time  coming  forth  into  the  cabin.  "  Noth 
ing  has  ever  happened  to  her  at  sea;  and 
that,  she  feels,  is  the  best  reason  for  thinking 
that  something  is  bound  to  happen  the  next 
time."  She  put  her  hand  on  the  elder 
woman's  shoulder  and  smiled  down  on  her 
from  her  greater  height. 
41 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Well,  that's  reasonable,"  retorted  Mrs. 
March.  "  I  was  never  one  to  shut  my  eyes 
and  claim  it  wasn't  thundering.  I've  got 
my  hearing.  What  does  the  good  Lord  give 
us  feelings  for  if  he  doesn't  mean  us  to 
use  them?  "  With  this  challenge  to  unbe 
lief  in  design  in  nature,  she  went  to  her 
room. 

Captain  March  was  still  at  the  wheel  when 
Drew  returned  to  the  deck.  Medbury  was 
forward  with  the  crew,  busily  stowing  the 
anchor.  Little  by  little,  Blackwater  was  dis 
appearing  behind  the  high  white  cliffs.  Drew 
took  up  the  glass  which  lay  in  its  box  against 
the  frame  of  the  sliding  hood  of  the  com- 
panionway  and  looked  toward  the  village. 
Even  as  he  looked,  the  white  spire  of  his 
church  disappeared  from  view.  He  saw  it 
vanish,  and  put  the  glass  down,  to  see  the 
girl  standing  in  the  companionway  watching 
the  changing  shore. 

"  I've  seen  the  last  of  my  church  for  three 
42 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

months,"  he  said  to  her;  "  now  I  am  really 
loose  and  free." 

"  It's  good  to  get  away  from  responsibil 
ity  for  a  while,"  she  said.  "  I  feel  now  as 
if  I  could  dismiss  all  thought  and  worry 
until  I  return.  Then  things  may  look  differ 
ent  to  me.  I  am  going  to  think  so,  anyway." 

"  Hetty,"  said  the  captain,  "  just  run 
down  and  get  my  pipe  off  my  desk,  won't 
you?  You're  younger  than  I  am.  Besides, 
I'm  busy."  He  turned  to  Drew.  "  Ashore 
I  smoke  cigars  mostly;  my  wife  says  a  pipe's 
low.  But  here  I'm  master."  He  looked 
about  his  little  kingdom  with  a  mild,  com 
placent  face. 

His  daughter  brought  his  pipe,  and,  with 
the  gentle  look  not  yet  gone  from  his  face, 
he  was  filling  it  when  a  boyish-looking  lad 
came  aft  along  the  starboard  side  of  the 
house,  sent  by  the  mate  to  take  the  wheel. 
Drew,  watching  the  captain,  saw  his  face 
change.  As  the  lad  came  to  the  quarter-deck, 
43 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

the  captain  pointed  a  stubby  finger  at  him. 
"You — "  he  began  harshly,  and  then 
hesitated  and  glanced  at  his  daughter.  The 
boy  stopped  and  turned  a  frightened  look 
upon  the  captain. 

"  Ever  been  to  sea  before?  "  demanded 
the  captain. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  faltered  the  boy. 

"  When?  " 

"Along  the  sound  here  —  last  summer," 
he  answered. 

"  Ah,"  said  the  captain;  then  he  added: 
"  Didn't  you  learn?  the  le'ward  side  of  a 
vessel?  " 

The  boy  gave  a  startled  look  aloft,  and 
then,  with  a  flaming  face,  turned  quickly 
and  came  back  along  th'e  lee  side  of  the 
house.  The  captain  gave  him  the  course, 
and  without  another  word  walked  over  to 
the  rail,  where  his  daughter  stood  with  Drew. 

"  Sometimes  they  forget,  sometimes 
they're  green  and  don't  know,  and  some- 
44 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

times  it's  just  impudence,"  he  said  in  a 
voice  that  the  boy  could  hear.  "  No  mat 
ter  which  it  is,  ninety-nine  times  in  a  hun 
dred  the  sailorman  who  does  it  tumbles  right 
into  trouble.  This  happened  to  be  the  hun 
dredth  time." 

His  daughter  took  him  by  the  shoulders 
and  shook  him  gently. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  she  asked  in  a 
low  voice,  "  that  you  might  have  punished 
that  boy  for  coming  aft  on  the  wrong  side? 
You  could  see  he  had  forgotten  or  didn't 
know.  Would  you?  " 

He  smiled  upon  her. 

"  Well,"  he  answered,  "  he'd  have  re 
membered  the  next  time  if  I  had." 

She  drew  back  haughtily. 

' '  I  am  going  to  parade  —  parade  up  and 
down  that  gangway  by  the  hour!  "  she  told 
him. 

Her  father  chuckled. 

"  Nothing  to  hinder,"  he  declared. 
45 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  You're  not  down  on  the  articles  as  a 
forecastle-hand,  are  you?  ' 

She  did  not  stay  to  listen,  but  went  in 
dignantly  away;  at  the  cabin  door,  however, 
she  turned  and  came  back. 

"  You  wouldn't  have  done  it,"  she  told 
him;  "  I  know  you  wouldn't."  She  stooped 
—  she  was  taller  than  he  —  and  kissed  him 
lightly.  Then  she  went  below. 

Her  father  gazed  after  her. 

"  Sometimes  she's  a  thousand  feet  tall," 
he  said  to  Drew ;  '  *  and  then  again  —  ' ' 

"  No  taller  than  your  heart,"  suggested 
Drew  as  he  hesitated. 

"  That's  about  it,  I  guess,"  said  the  cap 
tain. 

The  wind  freshened  as  night  came  on,  and 
had  a  touch  of  winter  in  its  sting.  They 
were  now  running  fast  by  the  coast,  the  high 
cliffs  of  which  rose  dark  and  desolate  on  the 
starboard.  The  water  was  black,  save  where 
it  ran  hissing  along  the  sides  in  a  ragged 
46 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

gray  ribbon  of  foam.  Behind  them,  in  the 
west,  a  crimson  flush  lingered  in  the  sky. 
Drew  stood  at  the  break  in  the  poop-deck, 
watching  the  shadowy  forms  of  the  crew  mov 
ing  about  the  deck  forward  as  they  made 
the  royal  snug  for  the  night;  far  overhead 
he  could  hear  the  pennant  halyards  slatting 
against  the  topmast  in  the  dark.  Every  taut 
line  and  halyard  sang  in  the  breeze,  and  there 
was  a  dull,  humming  roar  in  the  canvas; 
under  the  lower  sails,  across  the  deck,  the 
wind  swept  crackling  and  keen. 

He  heard  the  mate's  last  "  That's  well; 
belay!  "  and  watched  him  come  aft.  He 
passed  without  speaking,  then  hesitated  and 
came  back. 

"  After  we  get  through  the  Race,"  he 
said,  "  we'll  begin  to  get  the  swell."  He 
spoke  absent-mindedly,  as  if  he  were  think 
ing  of  something  quite  different;  then  he 
walked  to  the  rail  and  sat  down.  Drew  fol 
lowed  him. 

47 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Leaning  his  elbows  on  his  knees,  Med- 
bury  sat  for  a  long  time  without  speaking; 
at  last  he  looked  up  with  a  little  laugh. 

"I'd  give  something  to  be  out  of  this," 
he  said.  "  I  was  a  fool  to  come.  I  might 
have  known  better.  It's  funny,  but  a  man 
may  know  a  woman  all  his  life,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  time  know  as  little  about  her  as 
if  he  'd  never  seen  her  —  that  is,  really  know 
her  —  how  she'll  take  things.  Now,  I  sup 
pose  this  was  the  very  worst  thing  I  could 
have  done.  All  that  I've  got  to  do  is  to 
wait  till  she  gets  ready  and  she'll  tell  me 
so.  Oh,  I  can  see  just  how  she'll  look  and 
what  she'll  say!  I  don't  need  to  have  her 
tell  me.  '  You  might  have  thought  of  my 
feelings!'"  —  he  changed  his  voice, — 
"that's  what  she'll  say.  And  I — "  he 
broke  off  impatiently. 

Drew  looked  at  him  in  bewilderment. 

"  I  don't  think  I  understand,"  he  said. 

"  You  don't?  Why,  mother  said  she  told 
48 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

you  all  about  it  one  time  when  you  were  at 
the  house ;  she  said  she  had  to  tell  some  one. 
That's  how  I  felt  to-night,  and  I  thought  you 
knew. ' ' 

A  light  broke  in  upon  Drew. 

'  *  Ah !  "  he  said.  Then  he  went  on :  * '  Yes, 
she  told  me;  but  she  did  not  tell  me  the 
young  lady's  name.  It  is  Miss  March?  " 

"  Yes,"  Medbury  answered.  "  I  thought 
you  must  know.  You'd  have  been  the  only 
one  in  Blackwater  if  you  hadn't.  Some 
times  I  feel  like  the  town  clock,  with  every 
one  watching  my  face.  That's  one  reason 
why  I  like  the  China  seas;  I  can't  get  far 
ther  away." 

"  Your  mother  told  me  very  little,"  said 
Drew;  "  she  was  worrying  about  your  not 
coming  home,  and  lonely,  and  it  did  her  good 
to  speak.  It  did  not  seem  to  me  a  hopeless 
situation  as  she  told  it.  Captain  March 
strikes  me  as  being  a  reasonable  man." 

11  I  guess  she  didn't  tell  you  all,  then. 
49 


UNDEK   ROCKING   SKIES 

Well,  I  was  thinking  of  what  she  said  and 
how  much  she  thought  of  you,  and,  think 
ing  you  knew,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  ask 
your  advice.  I  felt  that  I  had  to  talk  to 
some  one."  He  hesitated  a  moment  and 
then,  with  a  boyish  laugh,  went  on :  "  You 
see,  Hetty  and  I  had  always  been  pretty  good 
friends  from  the  time  we  went  to  school  to 
gether.  Well,  I've  never  got  over  it.  When 
I  first  went  to  sea  she  used  to  write  to  me; 
but  after  a  while  she  went  out  to  Oberlin  to 
live  with  an  aunt  while  she  went  to  college; 
and  as  I  was  half  the  time  on  the  other  side 
of  the  world,  we  kind  of  lost  track  of  each 
other.  I  guess  she  lost  track  of  me  more 
than  I  did  of  her,  for  she's  changed  since  I 
saw  her  last,  three  years  ago,  and  I  can't 
quite  make  her  out.  She's  friendly  enough, 
but  she's  different,  and  has  come  home  with 
a  wild  notion  of  going  out  to  China  as  a  mis 
sionary.  Good  Lord!  a  girl  like  that  to  be 
thrown  away  on  those —  "  He  could  think 
50 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

of  no  word  strong  enough  to  convey  his  con 
tempt.  "  Well,"  he  went  on,  "I  can't  see 
any  place  for  me  in  that  plan,  but  that 
doesn't  seem  to  trouble  her.  That's  what 
worries  me.  Of  course  the  old  man's  set 
against  her  going;  but  he's  set  against  me, 
too,  because  I'm  a  sailor.  That's  the  way 
things  stand.  When  I  heard  she  was  going 
out  with  her  father  this  trip,  and  the  mate 
was  sick,  I  rushed  off  to  the  old  man  and 
offered  to  go  with  him.  He  wouldn't  hear 
of  it,  and  engaged  two  others;  but  I  saw 
them  privately,  and  they  backed  out.  The 
old  man  can't  understand  why  they  did. 
To-day  he  came  to  me,  and  here  I  am.  I've 
been  offered  a  good  vessel,  and  I  intended 
to  stay  home  a  spell ;  but  when  I  heard  Hetty 
was  going,  it  seemed  to  me  it  was  my 
last  chance  —  to  go  with  her ;  but  I  guess  it 
was  a  mistake.  I  can  see  she  thinks  I've  done 
a  foolish  thing,  and  is  angry." 

"  I  think  I  can  understand  how  she  feels 
51 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

—  how  most  women  would  feel, ' '  said  Drew, 
slowly,  after  a  long  pause.  "  Her  sense  of 
justice  is  outraged  —  perhaps  that's  too 
strong  a  word;  but  she  feels  that  you  have 
taken  an  unfair  advantage  of  her  in  leaving 
her  no  way  of  escape.  She  might  not  have 
cared  to  escape,  but  she  likes  to  feel  that 
retreat  is  open  to  her.  A  woman  fights  at 
a  disadvantage  in  these  things;  she  is  more 
sensitive  to  public  opinion  than  are  men, 
and  she  has  the  instinct  of  a  hunted  crea 
ture.  I  don't  know  that  I  can  make  it  clear," 
he  concluded  hopelessly.  "  Then,  too,  I  may 
be  wholly  wrong." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know  what  I  am  going 
to  do,  now  I'm  here,"  said  Medbury,  for 
lornly. 

"  I  should  say,  attend  strictly  to  business 
and  see  her  as  little  as  possible  for  a  while," 
Drew  told  him.  "  As  for  her  anger,  that 
may  be  a  good  sign.  If  she  were  simply 
indifferent  to  you,  she  wouldn't  care.  She 
52 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

could  leave  it  safely  to  time  to  make  your 
coming  ridiculous." 

When  Drew  entered  the  cabin,  an  hour 
later,  Hetty  sat  at  the  table  reading,  shad 
ing  her  eyes  with  her  hand;  her  mother  sat 
knitting  near  her;  and  on  the  lounge  her 
father  reclined,  pipe  in  mouth,  his  hat  on  the 
floor  beside  him.  Blinking  in  the  strong  light, 
Drew  sat  down  without  removing  his  over 
coat. 

"  Ain't  you  going  to  stay  a  while?  "  asked 
the  captain.  "  You  can't  make  church  calls 
to-night." 

Drew  laughed. 

"  No,"  he  said;  "  that's  true.  I'm  out 
of  that.  But  I'm  going  back  on  deck  soon. 
I  can't  get  enough  of  it:  the  world  seems  all 
sky  and  stars.  I  had  lost  sight  of  the  fact 
that  the  earth  is  so  trivial." 

Captain  March  let  his  feet  come  slowly 
to  the  floor  and  picked  up  his  hat. 

"  That's  a  good  deal  so,"  he  said.  "  Still, 
53 


UNDEB   BOOKING   SKIES 

there's  enough  earth  lying  loose  around  the 
Bace  to  keep  me  from  forgetting  it,  at  least 
till  we've  dropped  it  astern.  I  guess  I'll  go 
take  a  look  up  on  deck." 

As  her  father  disappeared,  Hetty  laid 
down  her  book  and  looked  up. 

"  Where  are  we  now?  "  she  asked  Drew. 

"  Little  Gull  Island  light  is  just  ahead  of 
us,"  he  answered. 

"  That  will  be  our  last  sight  of  land, 
won't  it?  "  she  asked.  "I'm  going  up  to 
say  good-by." 

When  she  had  gone,  her  mother  dropped 
her  knitting  in  her  lap. 

"  I  guess  ministers  are  used  to  people 
coming  to  them  with  all  their  troubles,"  she 
began,  with  a  plaintive  little  note  creeping 
into  her  usually  cheery  voice,  "  and  I  do 
hope  you  won't  think  I'm  trying  to  spoil 
your  vacation  by  troubling  you  with  ours; 
but  Cap'n  March  and  I  have  talked  and 
talked  till  we  ain't  on  speaking  terms  with 
54 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

our  own  judgments  any  more,  and  what  to 
do  next  I  don't  know."  Then  she,  too,  told 
the  story. 

At  the  end  of  her  hurried  recital  she  said : 
"  What  she  thinks  of  Tom  I  don't  know; 
she's  awfully  close-mouthed  about  some 
things.  I  like  Tom,  and  if  I  had  my  way 
I  guess  I'd  let  the  young  folks  settle  it 
themselves.  But  Cap'n  March  he's  different. 
He's  going  to  take  it  for  granted  that  she 
won't  think  of  Tom  because  her  father  dis 
approves  of  her  marrying  a  sailor;  and  he 
will  be  so  sure  of  it,  and  so  exasperating, 
that  I  don't  know  what  he'll  make  her  do 
first  —  marry  Tom  or  go  right  off  to  China. 
In  the  end  he'll  let  her  do  just  what  she 
makes  up  her  mind  to  do.  He  always  did, 
and  he  always  will.  If  it's  one  thing,  I  don't 
care;  but  to  think  of  her  going  off  alone  to 
the  other  side  of  the  world  —  ' '  She  picked 
up  her  work  and  began  to  knit  rapidly,  with 
fast-falling  tears. 

55 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

Drew  sat  with  his  elbow  on  the  back  of 
the  chair,  his  chin  in  the  palm  of  his  hand, 
looking  down  at  the  floor. 

' '  I  wish  I  knew  what  to  say  —  to  advise, 
Mrs.  March,"  he  now  said;  "  but  I  do  not. 
Perhaps  after  a  while  —  ' ' 

"  Yes,"  she  broke  in  eagerly;  "  that's  all 
we  could  expect.  I  told  Cap'n  March  I  was 
going  to  speak  to  you,  and  he  seemed  real 
pleased.  I'm  sure  you'll  think  of  some  way 
out,"  she  added,  with  the  cheerful  optimism 
with  which  we  shift  the  burden  of  our  des 
perate  affairs  to  the  shoulders  of  others.  It 
is  hard  to  believe  that  Fate  will  continue 
unkind  when  our  friends  are  moved.  "  And 
I  hope,"  she  went  on,  "  that  you  won't  feel 
it  a  duty  to  encourage  Hetty's  missionary 
notions.  Of  course  you're  a  minister  and 
believe  in  missionaries,  and  I  shouldn't  ask 
you  to  go  against  your  conscience;  but  I 
suppose  you  can  believe  in  them  without 
thinking  that  everybody's  fit  for  the  work. 
56 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

I'm  sure  Hetty  isn't.  All  the  missionary 
women  I  ever  saw  were  thin  and  homely, 
and  their  clothes  seemed  just  thrown  at  them. 
Hetty  isn't  a  bit  like  that.  I  can  say  so,  if 
she  is  my  daughter.  And  I've  scarcely  seen 
her  for  three  years;  and  if  now  she  should 
go  away  to  live  at  the  end  of  the  world  among 
heathen  idols,  with  not  a  homelike  thing,  and 
no  one  to  mother  her  when  she  needs  mother 
ing,  then  I  think  that  religion  is  very  kind 
to  the  heathen,  who  don't  want  it,  and  very 
cruel  to  a  mother  who  has  always  been  a 
God-fearing  woman  and  only  wants  her  child 
near  her  when  she  comes  to  die.  She's  all 
I've  got." 

She  had  been  speaking  with  increasing 
rapidity,  but  now  a  light  footfall  sounded 
on  deck,  going  aft,  and  she  stopped. 

"  Go  up  on  deck,"  she  said  to  Drew.    "  I 

don't  want  her  to  know  I've  ever  mentioned 

this  to  you.    She's  a  dear  girl,  but  sometimes 

I  feel  like  a  hen  who  is  the  mother  of  a  duck- 

57 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

ling.  What  she's  going  to  do  next  I  don't 
know." 

Drew  met  the  girl  by  the  corner  of  the 
house. 

"  I've  been  showing  father  the  stars," 
she  said.  "  He,  a  sailor,  and  not  to  know 
them!  I  told  him  I  thought  it  shameful." 

"  I  suppose  he  knew  the  north  star,"  he 
said,  smiling. 

"  Oh,  yes;  he  knew  that.  The  others 
didn't  seem  to  impress  him.  He  said  they 
were  too  shifty  to  be  of  much  use." 

11 1  think  there  are  some  folks  who  know 
so  much  that  it  kind  o'  clogs  their  brains 
and  keeps  them  from  working  right,"  said 
Captain  March,  coming  up  behind  her!  "  I 
have  an  idea  that  we  can  use  just  about  so 
much,  and  all  over  and  above  that  is  just 
pure  waste.-  I  once  had  a  mate  that  was 
like  that.  He  could  name  all  the  stars,  too, 
and  knew  a  good  many  things  of  that  sort 
that  didn't  help  him  much  to  find  his  longi- 
58 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

tude;  but  as  for  the  look  of  the  sky,  or  the 
heave  of  the  sea,  or  the  feel  of  the  wind, 
that  meant  nothing  more  to  him  than  so  much 
blank  paper.  Now,  when  I  walk  the  deck 
at  night  and  look  up  and  see  the  stars  shining 
overhead,  winter  or  summer,  they're  com 
pany  for  me.  That's  enough  for  me;  what 
men  call  'em  I  don't  care.  I  suppose  the 
good  Lord's  got  his  own  names  for  them." 

Hetty  stayed  on  deck  till  Little  Gull  Island 
light  came  abreast;  but  when  she  had  gone 
below  the  captain  sought  out  Drew  as  he 
stood  by  the  main-rigging  and  told  him  his 
daughter's  desire.  He  made  no  mention  of 
Medbury. 

' '  Her  mother  thought  you  might  help  us, ' ' 
he  concluded;  "  and  I  hope  you  can,  for 
we're  in  sore  trouble.  Still,  I  don't  ask  you 
to  advise  against  your  conscience.  Now  I 
say,  *  No,'  to  her;  but  if  she  feels  she's  got 
to  go,  and  doesn't  change,  why,  I  shall  say, 
'  Yes,'  in  the  end.  I  know  that.  My  father 
59 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

always  wanted  me  to  stay  ashore,  but  I  was 
wild  to  go  to  sea.  It  seemed  that  I  had  to 
go,  and  in  the  end  I  did.  I  don't  know  that 
I  got  all  I  expected,  but  I  got  what  I  wanted ; 
and  if  my  girl  sets  her  heart  on  this  as  the 
only  way  for  her  to  lead  her  life,  why,  I 
sha'n't  put  a  stone  in  her  way  when  once 
I'm  sure.  It  wouldn't  be  right.'* 


60 


IV 


HETTY  had  spread  a  shawl  on  the  for 
ward  end  of  the  house,  and,  with  her 
arm  resting  on  the  slide  of  the  companion- 
way,  sat  with  an  unopened  book  in  her  lap 
and  looked  out  across  the  shining  sea.  It 
was  three  bells  or  more,  and  the  morning 
sun  was  warm  upon  her  face,  and  painted 
with  rainbow  hues  the  spray  that  the  fresh 
northwest  wind  clipped  from  every  toppling 
wave.  The  brig  was  sliding  down  the  seas 
like  a  boy  let  loose  from  school,  now  dipping 
her  nose  into  a  long  roller  with  chuckling 
hawse-pipes,  now  sinking  into  the  blue  hol 
lows,  sending  the  sheeted  spray  outward  for 
yards  as  her  counter  came  home  with  a  jar 
ring  thud.  The  spars  whined  unceasingly, 
61 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

but  the  sails,  bellying  in  the  steady  breeze, 
made  scarcely  a  sound,  save  when  a  sudden 
lurch  spilled  the  wind  from  the  canvas,  and  it 
snapped  like  a  great  whip. 

The  scene,  with  the  vividness  of  its  new 
sensations,  now  for  the  first  time  experi 
enced,  impressed  itself  upon  Drew's  mind  as 
something  wholly  mysterious  and  strangely 
moving.  After  the  first  night,  when  there 
had  been  no  sea,  he  had  remained  steadily 
below,  too  ill  to  rise;  but  the  sickness  had 
now  passed,  and  it  was  with  only  the  un 
certainty  of  gait  of  one  not  yet  accustomed 
to  the  motion  of  the  vessel  that  he  had  made 
his  way  to  the  deck  and  looked  out  over  the 
watery  world. 

With  a  sense  of  aloofness,  of  absolute  sep 
aration,  from  all  that  he  had  ever  known, 
he  gazed  about  him.  The  words, 

"  Look'd  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise. 
Silent,  upon  a  peak  in  Darien," 

62 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

flashed  through  his  mind:  the  perfect  poem 
seemed  strangely  interpretative  of  his  mood. 
Then  his  gaze  came  back  from  the  notched 
and  leaping  horizon  to  the  silent  figure  of 
Hetty,  and,  with  the  lifting  spirit  of  a  mind 
released  from  the  oppression  of  a  strange 
and  portentous  solitude,  he  clumsily  made 
his  way  to  her  side,  glad  for  companionship. 
She  looked  up  brightly. 

I  i  Oh, ' '  she  said,  * '  I  was  wishing  for  some 
one  to  enjoy  it  with.     I  tried  to  get  my 
mother,  but  she  would  not  come  up.     She 
said  she  could  feel  it;   that  was  enough  for 
her.    I  hope  it  is  not  enough  for  you." 

II  No,"  he  answered;    "  there  is  more  in 
seeing  it:    it  is  strange  and  overwhelming. 
I  am  inland-bred,  you  know:  I  feel  as  if  all 
known  things  had  passed  away." 

"  To  me  it  is  like  coming  home,"  she  de 
clared.     "  I  cannot  remember  when  it  was 
not  familiar.    Now  it  is  like  lifting  the  latch 
of  the  door  at  home  after  a  long  absence." 
65 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

He  shook  his  head,  smiling. 

"  I  cannot  imagine  any  one  thinking  of 
it  as  companionable,  as  a  part  of  actual  ex 
perience.  I  need  hills  and  old  trees  and 
remembered  turns  in  roads  to  feel  the  in 
timacy  of  the  world.  This  is  strange  and 
beautiful,  but  leaves  me  an  alien.  It  is  like 
a  kaleidoscope:  nothing  is  twice  the  same." 

"  I  do  not  care  for  things  that  are  twice 
the  same,"  she  told  him.  "  Here  something 
is  always  likely  to  happen.  The  only  cer 
tain  thing  I  know  of  to-morrow  is  that  we 
shall  have  plum-duff."  She  laughed. 

He  looked  at  her,  gravely  smiling. 

1 '  A  certain  noble  discontent  —  you  know 
the  thought  —  is  well ;  but  —  "he  was  think 
ing  of  her  mother's  concern,  and  her  words 
carried  him  toward  it;  yet  he  hesitated, 
doubtful  if  it  might  not  be  too  soon  to  speak 
— ' '  but  constant  change  means  lack  of  pur 
pose,  doesn't  it?  If  you  set  your  heart 
on  something,  —  something  vastly  different 
66 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

from  anything  you  have  ever  known,  —  it 
will  be  fruitless  of  good  unless  persisted  in 

—  unless  it  wears  grooves  in  your  life.    A 
mere  impulse  for  change  is  to  be  distrusted. ' ' 
He  smiled  and  added:   "  Don't  think  that  I 
cannot  give  over  preaching." 

"  I  know  what  you  mean,"  replied  the 
girl,  looking  seaward  with  troubled  eyes. 
1 '  I  suppose  mother  has  told  you  what  I  wish. 
But  it  isn't  a  mere  desire  for  change,  and 
everybody's  disapproval  only  makes  me 
more  eager  to  go.  Isn't  that  a  proof  that 
the  desire  is  something  to  be  obeyed  —  a  real 
call?  How  can  I  be  sure  that  it  is  not,  un 
less  I  try?  Do  you  think  me  a  silly  person?  " 
She  looked  at  him  with  a  suggestion  of  defi 
ance,  but  smilingly,  too. 

11  I  should  be  the  last  one  to  think  that," 
he  told  her.  ' '  Only  look  at  it  from  all  sides 

—  that  is  all  your  friends  can  ask." 

"  Not  father,"  she  answered  laughingly. 
"  If  I  can  be  made  to  look  at  it  -from  his 
67 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

point  of  view,  he  will  willingly  spare  me  the 
rest.  Poor  father!  But  let's  not  speak  of 
it,"  she  went  on.  "  Look!  the  Mother  Ca 
rey's  chicken!  " 

She  pointed  to  the  bird,  the  black-and- 
white  little  creature  which  always  seems  to 
be  hurrying  home,  wherever  it  may  be.  Far 
to  the  southeast  a  trail  of  smoke  from  an 
unseen  steamer  blotched  the  white  sky.  On 
the  main-deck  the  second  mate  and  a  sailor 
were  patching  a  topsail;  from  the  galley 
drifted  aft  the  cheerful  whistling  of  the 
steward,  like  a  flock  of  blackbirds,  and  the 
homelike  sound  of  rattling  pans.  Only  the 
man  at  the  wheel  was  aft,  now  bending  to 
the  spokes,  now  glancing  at  the  binnacle,  and 
now  turning  his  eye  aloft  to  the  luff  of  the 
mainsail.  It  was  the  morning  of  the  third 
day  out. 

Drew  was  silent  so  long  that  she  turned  a 
troubled  face  to  him. 

11  You  must  not  think  that  I  do  not  care 
68 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

for  your  advice,"  she  said  gently;  "  I  do 
—  shall  some  day.  Just  now  I  cannot  bear 
to  speak  of  my  disappointment.  It  wasn't 
a  sudden  impulse ;  it  was  a  part  of  my  life, 
and  it  must  be  given  up,  perhaps.  After 
a  little,  when  I  can  collect  my  scattered 
forces,  if  you  can  help  me  —  ' '  She  smiled 
uncertainly. 

"  I  know,  I  know,"  he  hastened  to  say. 
"  But  I  was  really  thinking  of  something 
quite  different  —  that  three  days  ago  I  had 
not  even  seen  you;  now  our  lives  seem 
intimately  near.  Only  at  sea  could  that 
happen. ' ' 

"  Yes,"  she  agreed;  "  people  grow  into 
friendship  quickly  at  sea  —  and  grow  apart 
as  quickly.  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that 
is  a  reason  for  the  cruelty  and  harshness 
on  shipboard  —  that  men's  tempers  become 
warped  when  they  cannot  escape  from  one 
another  and  they  find  no  common  ground  for 
companionship.  He  says  there  have  been 
69 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

times  when  he  fairly  hated  a  mate  of  his. 
On  shore  they  might  have  been  intimate  for 
years  without  an  unpleasant  thought." 

"  Let  us  hope  that  we  may  escape  that 
disaster,"  he  said,  with  a  smile. 

He  wondered  if  Medbury  had  been  in  her 
thoughts.  They  had  scarcely  spoken,  he  had 
observed.  He  himself  had  seen  little  of  the 
younger  man,  and  he  was  quite  prepared  to 
rate  him  her  inferior,  in  spite  of  his  physi 
cal  attractiveness.  He  seemed  a  mere  boy 
in  his  impulses;  he  doubted  not  that  he 
would  keep  his  boyishness  to  the  end  of  life. 
Certainly,  he  told  himself,  he  was  lacking 
in  her  capacity  for  growth. 

Meanwhile  his  own  first  opinion  of  her 
beauty  had  not  changed;  it  was  as  appar 
ent  as  ever,  he  told  himself,  and  had  taken 
on  an  added  grace  with  his  widening  knowl 
edge  of  her  many  changing  moods.  As  he 
gazed  at  her  now,  he  had  an  impression  of 
distinction,  but  distinction  united  with  a  cer- 
70 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

tain  gentleness  that,  he  told  himself,  was 
rare.  Her  face  was  in  profile,  and  the  mouth, 
clear-cut  and  undrooping,  had  the  softness 
of  outline  that  he  associated  with  good  tem 
per.  Her  eyes,  though  now  sad,  had  the 
same  gentle  look.  He  liked  her  thick  brown 
hair  and  the  clear  oval  of  her  face:  they 
gave  him  the  impression  of  harmony.  In 
spite  of  his  first  feeling  of  attraction  for 
Medbury,  he  felt  that  the  girl  hesitated 
wisely;  he  could  see  no  road  by  which  the 
two  could  travel  as  equal  companions.  That 
Medbury 's  hopes  seemed  destined  to  be  shat 
tered  did  not  move  him  greatly;  for  rarely 
to  the  masculine  onlooker  is  the  disappointed 
lover  a  tragic  figure.  One  has  seen  him  play 
his  game  and  lose ;  now  let  him  bear  the  loss 
manfully. 

They  did  not  speak  of  her  desire  again 

that  day;   indeed,  eight  days  passed  before 

he  ventured  to  refer  to  it.    Meanwhile  they 

had  become   great   friends.     The  pleasant 

71 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

weather  had  held,  and  they  had  rolled  down 
the  long,  smooth  seas,  which  daily  seemed 
to  grow  bluer,  under  a  sky  that  remained 
cloudless. 

It  was  morning  again,  the  morning  of  the 
eleventh  day  out,  and  they  sat  in  the  same 
place,  with  much  the  same  scene  about  them, 
though  now  with  a  tropical  softness  flooding 
the  world,  and  less  heeded  as  their  thoughts 
turned  more  to  themselves.  He  had  been 
reading  aloud  while  she  worked  at  some 
trifle,  but  suddenly  he  closed  the  book. 

"  That  is  enough  of  other  men's  dreams," 
he  said.  "  What  of  yours?  " 

She  did  not  even  look  up  as  she  replied: 

"  Mine  are  poor  enough;  I  prefer  those 
of  others.  Besides,  I  have  scarcely  thought 
of  them  for  days." 

"  Are  they  less  insistent?  "  he  asked. 

"  Don't!  "  she  appealed.  "Don't!  lam 
not  yet  ready  to  face  them.  I  have  lost  my 
courage." 

72 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  I  will  say  no  more,'*  lie  said;  "  but  I 
had  thought  that  you  seemed  different  — 
ready  to  surrender.  I  had  hoped  so." 

She  looked  up  now. 

"  Are  you  against  me,  too?  "  she  de 
manded. 

"  Can  you  believe  that?  "  he  asked.  "  I 
had  thought  that  I  was  for  you  —  as  we  all 
are." 

She  smiled. 

"  You  are  all  making  it  very  hard  for  me," 
she  told  him. 

A  step  sounded  on  the  forward  compan- 
ionway,  and  Medbury  appeared.  He  glanced 
past  them  to  the  man  at  the  wheel,  looked 
aloft,  then  walked  slowly  to  the  break  of  the 
deck.  Suddenly  he  came  back  and  seated 
himself  on  the  corner  of  the  house  near  them. 
Apparently  he  had  wearied  of  self-suppres 
sion. 

He  was  manifestly  trying  to  appear  wholly 
at  ease,  and  he  began  to  talk  at  once,  and 
73 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

very  rapidly,  like  one  repeating  a  speech 
that  had  been  learned  by  heart.  He  spoke 
of  the  wind  and  the  run  of  the  vessel,  and 
he  told  them  that  they  had  not  touched  a 
sheet  for  more  than  sixty  hours.  He  said 
he  hoped  that  it  would  last,  though  he  added 
that  he  doubted  it. 

"  When  ought  we  to  get  out,  Tom!  " 
asked  Hetty.  She  bit  off  her  thread  as  she 
spoke,  and,  spreading  her  work  on  her  lap, 
examined  it  absent-mindedly. 

' '  If  the  wind  holds,  in  four  or  five  days, ' ' 
he  answered;  "  but  I'm  afraid  it  won't. 
The  sea's  beginning  to  look  oily  now;  the 
snap  has  gone  out  of  the  wind.  We'll  be 
slatting  and  rolling  in  a  dead  calm  by  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon.  I  noticed  the 
change  in  my  bunk,  and  couldn't  sleep." 

"  I  thought  sailors  could  always  sleep." 
This  was  Hetty's  contribution  to  the  con 
versation  as  she  still  studied  her  work. 

"  Well,  I  couldn't,"  he  answered. 
74 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Then  we  may  be  three  weeks  going 
out,"  said  Drew.  "  It  seems  like  a  long 
time." 

"  I  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  days  on 
my  last  voyage  —  from  Singapore,"  said 
Medbury. 

"  I  am  beginning  to  grasp  the  reason  for 
the  sailor's  rapt,  far-seeing  look,"  said  Drew. 
"It  is  not  strange  that  he  never  loses  it, 
with  his  constant  study  of  invisible  signs 
and  meanings.  But  a  hundred  and  twenty 
days !  What  changes  may  take  place  in  that 
time!  " 

"  We  find  changes  enough,"  Medbury  an 
swered.  "  Sometimes  I  think  we  sailors  are 
the  only  things  that  do  not  change,  except 
to  grow  older  and  sadder.  We  always  hope 
to  find  everything  just  as  we  left  it,  but  we 
never  do." 

Hetty  looked  steadily  seaward,  and  a  fine 
flush  came  to  her  face ;  but  Drew  was  struck 
with  the  philosophy  of  the  situation. 
75 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  That  surely  ought  to  be  true,"  he  ac 
quiesced  — ' '  that  the  sailor  is  the  most 
unchanging  of  men.  One  should  come  back 
wiser  in  sea-lore,  but  solitude  and  the  single 
ness  of  his  purpose  should  keep  him  un 
touched  by  all  the  distractions  that  change 
other  men.  I've  noticed  in  Blackwater  the 
freshness  of  spirit,  almost  boyishness,  of  old 
men. ' ' 

Hetty's  face  was  turned  forward,  and  now 
she  leaped  to  her  feet. 

"  What  is  that,  Tom?  "  she  exclaimed. 
' '  We  are  running  on  a  sand-bar !  ' ' 

A  hundred  yards  ahead  of  them  stretched 
a  great  golden-brown  field  that  looked  like 
a  salt-meadow  in  April.  Above  it  wheeled 
a  flock  of  sea-birds. 

Medbury  scarcely  turned  his  head. 

11  Sargasso  weed,"  he  answered,  and 
grinned.  "  It's  always  waltzing  about  in 
these  latitudes." 

The  girl  walked  to  the  main-rigging,  and, 
76 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

leaning  across  the  sheer-pole,  watched  the 
yellow  plain  with  wondering  eyes.  A  mo 
ment  later,  as  they  plunged  into  it,  she 
caught  her  breath;  it  seemed  incredible  to 
her  that  there  should  be  no  shock. 

Instantly  the  sounds  of  the  sea  were 
hushed;  there  was  only  the  soft  hissing  of 
the  weed  as  it  swept  past  the  side  of  the 
brig. 

"  Come  up  to  the  forecastle-deck  and  see 
it  pile  up  on  the  bow,"  Medbury  said  to 
the  girl. 

She  did  not  stir. 

"  Won't  you  come?  " 

"  No,"  she  answered. 

He  leaned  across  the  sheer-pole  with  her 
a  moment  in  silence.  The  bell  forward 
struck  four  sharp  strokes;  it  was  like  a  cry 
in  the  night.  Then  a  sailor  came  lurching 
aft  to  relieve  the  man  at  the  wheel. 

"  Is  it  always  going  to  be  like  this, 
Hetty?  "  Medbury  asked  her  in  a  low  voice. 
77 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  I  suppose  so.'* 

"  You  want  it  so?  " 

"  I  said,  l  I  suppose  so.'  " 

"It's  the  same  thing,"  he  remarked 
drearily,  and  sighed. 

The  sigh  seemed  to  irritate  her,  for  she 
turned  upon  him  suddenly. 

4 '  Why  did  you  speak  like  that  —  before 
a  stranger?  ' 

"  Like  what?  "  he  asked,  in  astonishment. 

"  About  coming  home  unchanged,  and 
finding  nothing  as  you  had  left  it.  Of  course 
he  knew  what  you  meant.  And  it  wasn't 
true,  for  I  have  not  changed.  I  could  have 
sunk  through  the  deck  for  shame." 

"  Oh,  that,"  he  replied.  "  He  didn't  un 
derstand;  he  thought  it  was  a  text." 

"  A  text!  "     She  turned  away  in  scorn. 

A  moment  he  stood  looking  outboard  with 
unseeing  eyes;  then  he  stooped  and  drew 
a  boat-hook  from  the  slings  beneath  the 
rail. 

78 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  a  piece?  " 
he  asked,  pointing  to  the  seaweed. 

She  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  came 
back  to  his  side. 

"  Yes,"  she  said. 

He  drew  in  a  great  bunch  and  spread  it 
at  her  feet,  and  she  picked  up  a  bit  with 
dainty  fingers. 

"  It's  no  longer  beautiful,"  she  said  in 
disappointment,  and  dropped  it  on  the  house. 

11  No,"  he  answered  soberly,  and  tossed 
the  weed  back  into  the  sea. 


79 


THE  wind  died  out,  as  he  had  predicted, 
and  all  the  afternoon  the  brig  rolled  on 
the  long  swells,  which  hourly  grew  heavier. 
They  leaped  against  the  horizon,  swung  on 
ward  beneath  the  keel,  and  swept  past  with 
the  unrelenting  persistency  that  seemed  the 
embodiment  of  vindictive  hate.  A  gale  can 
be  combated,  but,  in  the  grasp  of  a  calm,  man 
is  helpless.  Every  part  of  the  vessel  cried 
out  in  protest.  The  canvas  slatted  and 
flapped  like  the  wings  of  a  huge  bird  vainly 
trying  to  rise  from  the  waves;  every  block 
rattled  and  croaked;  the  main-boom,  hauled 
chock  aft,  snatched  at  its  sheets  with  a  vi- 
ciousness  that  threatened  to  part  them  at 
every  roll  and  made  their  huge  blocks  crash ; 
80 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

from  the  pantry  below  came  the  constant 
rattle  of  crockery;  and  the  blue  sea,  dipped 
up  through  the  scuppers,  swashed  back  and 
forth  across  the  main-deck.  By  eight  bells 
every  stitch  of  canvas  had  been  furled  or 
clewed  up  to  save  it,  and  the  brig  lay  rolling 
in  the  dark  hollows  like  a  drunken  sailor 
reeling  home. 

At  dusk  Hetty  made  her  way  to  the  for 
ward  companionway,  and,  seating  herself  on 
the  sill,  with  her  hands  clasped  about  the 
guard-rail,  looked  out  across  the  watery 
waste.  The  line  of  her  eyes,  parallel  with 
the  deck,  saw  the  stars  fly  downward  till 
tEey  seemed  to  vanish  in  the  sea,  which 
suddenly  seemed  to  tower  like  a  huge  black 
wall  above  the  brig ;  then  suddenly  it  dropped 
away,  and  the  stars  flew  up  again,  and  she 
saw  them  fairly  overhead.  Out  of  the  swash 
ing  flood  of  the  main-deck,  in  a  momentary 
lull,  Medbury  appeared. 

"  Is  that  you,  Hetty?  "  he  said. 
81 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Yes,"  she  answered.  "It's  awful,  isn't 
it?" 

"It's  a  nasty  roll,  and  no  mistake. 
There's  dirty  weather  knocking  about  some 
where.  ' ' 

"  You  mean  a  storm?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Shall  we  get  it?  "  she  asked. 

"  We  may  and  may  not,"  he  answered. 
"It's  hard  to  say." 

11  Could  it  be  a  hurricane  coming?  "  she 
asked  with  awe. 

He  laughed. 

"  Haven't  you  ever  heard  the  sailors' 
rhymes  about  hurricanes  in  the  West  In 
dies?"  he  asked. 

"'July, 
Stand  by; 
August, 

Look  out  you  must; 
September, 
Bern  ember ; 
October, 
All  over.' 
82 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

That  anchors  March  squarely  in  the  middle 
of  the  safe  months;  so  we're  all  right,  you 
see.  No,  it  isn't  a  hurricane." 

He  seated  himself  on  the  deck,  and,  lean 
ing  against  the  door-jamb,  braced  himself 
to  the  roll.  For  a  while  they  sat  in  silence, 
and  watched  the  long  rollers  infold  them  — 
three  great  ones,  then  a  succession  of  lower 
ones,  in  an  ever-recurring  sameness  that 
moved  the  girl  with  a  growing  nervous 
ness.  At  last  she  turned  to  him  and 
said: 

"  I  wanted  to  explain  to  you  that  I  had 
no  reason  to  be  ugly  this  morning.  But 
what  is  the  use?  Father  would  always  op 
pose  ;  besides,  I  am  not  sure  myself.  I  want 
to  be  friends,  nothing  more." 

'  *  Well !  that  is  a  wooden  tale, ' '  he  said 
disappointedly. 

"  I  never  said  anything  different  at  any 
time,  Tom,"  she  protested. 

"  Oh,  I  know.  You  always  had  a  pair 
83 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

of  skittish  heels,  Hetty."  He  turned  his 
face  to  her  suddenly.  "  Is  there  any  one 
else?  " 

"  No,"  she  said. 

"  All  right,"  he  answered;  "I'll  hope  on. 
I've  been  doing  that  a  long  time;  I'm  not 
going  to  stop  now."  He  was  silent  a  mo 
ment,  and  then  he  said :  ' '  Do  you  know  how 
long  that's  been,  Hetty?  Fourteen  years. 
We  were  in  school  then,  and  it  began  the 
day  of  that  big  snow-storm,  when  I  drew  you 
home  on  my  sled.  You  wore  a  red  jacket, 
and  your  cheeks  were  almost  as  red.  I  can 
see  you  sitting  there  now,  and  smiling  when 
ever  I  looked  back.  You  were  the  shyest 
little  thing!  When  we  reached  your  gate, 
you  just  slipped  off  and  ran  into  the  house 
without  turning." 

"  Oh,  do  you  remember  that!  " 

"  I've  thought  of  it  under  every  star  in 
the  sky,  I  think.  I  guess  that's  the  way  it 
will  always  be  with  you  —  slipping  away  and 
84 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

not  looking  back."  He  laughed  a  little  dole 
fully. 

"I'm  not  like  that,"  she  said  in  a  low 
voice.  "  I  may  go  away,  but  I  shall  look 
back.  I  am  no  longer  a  child." 

"  Then  don't  go  away,"  he  said  eagerly; 
but  she  stopped  him. 

"Don't,  Tom!"  she  pleaded.  "Don't 
speak  of  it  any  more  —  now.  Just  be 
friends." 

"  All  right,  Hetty.  It  will  be  as  you  say. 
I  don't  nag  my  —  friends."  He  smiled  for 
lornly. 

In  silence  they  watched  the  swells  racing 
in.  They  were  like  living  things,  of  incredi 
ble  speed,  insatiable,  pitiless,  rushing  on  to 
infold  them.  As  the  brig  rolled  in  their 
grasp,  the  girl  instinctively  moved  her  body 
against  the  roll:  it  was  as  if  she  thought 
to  lessen  the  awful  dip  of  the  deck  with  her 
puny  weight ;  and  whenever  the  great  rollers 
passed,  and  the  vessel,  like  a  tired  thing, 
85 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

lay  for  an  instant  almost  at  peace  in  the 
lower  levels  of  the  sea,  an  involuntary  sigh 
of  relief  escaped  her.  Medbury  heard  her 
and  looked  up. 

"  You're  not  afraid,  Hetty,  are  you?  "  he 
asked.  "  It's  disagreeable;  that's  all." 

11  No,  not  really,  I  think,"  she  answered; 
11  but  I  wish  it  would  stop." 

"It's  a  regular  cradle  —  as  peaceful  as 
that,"  he  assured  her.  "  Only  we're  a  lit 
tle  old  for  cradles,  I  guess,"  he  added. 

"  I  am,"  she  said. 

Over  them  the  stars  raced  back  and  forth ; 
for  there  were  no  clouds,  only  a  soft  haze 
that  made  the  stars  seem  large  and  near,  but 
without  brightness.  Close  down  to  the  sea 
a  whitish  film  seemed  to  spread,  making  the 
curtain  of  the  night  above  it  intensely  black. 
Once,  as  they  dipped  to  port,  Hetty's  eyes 
caught  sight  of  a  deep-red  glow  suffusing  the 
lifted  wave  near  the  bow.  She  clutched  at 
Medbury 's  arm. 


UNDER   ROCKING    SKIES 

"  What  is  that,  Tom  —  there  —  like 
blood?  "  she  gasped. 

"  That?  Why,  the  reflection  of  our  port 
light.  You  poor  thing!  "  he  said  pityingly. 
"  Hadn't  you  better  go  below?  It's  queer, 
but  on  a  night  like  this,  or  in  thick  weather, 
if  you  once  lose  your  nerve,  you  see  the 
queerest  things.  Come,  you'll  be  all  right 
below. ' ' 

She  dropped  her  face  to  her  hands  and 
laughed. 

"  No,"  she  said;  "  now  I  will  stay. 
There !  "  —  she  straightened  herself  and 
looked  at  him  smilingly,  — i  *  now,  I  '11  be 
sensible.  Why  do  you  look  at  me  like 
that?  "  she  asked  abruptly. 

He  turned  his  face  away. 

"  Can't  I  even  look  at  you?  A  friend 
could  do  that." 

"  But  that  was  different,"  she  answered. 
"It  was — "  The  look  of  yearning  love 
upon  his  face  moved  her  strangely.  She 
87 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

felt  the  impatient  tears  flood  her  eyes. 
Meanwhile  he  hastened  to  speak  of  other 
things. 

"  Do  you  remember  how  you  used  to  tie 
your  hair  up  in  two  tight  little  braids'?  r 
he  asked  —  "  always  tied  with  red  ribbon?  ' 

"  Mother  did  that,"  she  answered 
promptly.  "  I  hated  it.  I  used  to  tell  her 
they  made  my  head  ache.  I've  forgotten 
now  whether  they  did  or  not.  But  it  wasn't 
always  red  ribbon." 

"  Wasn't  it?  "  he  asked.  "  That's  what 
I  remember." 

"  Some  things  you've  forgotten,  you  see," 
she  told  him.  "It  is  easy  to  forget,  after 
all." 

The  door  of  the  passage  below  them 
opened,  and  some  one  stumbled  toward 
them.  It  was  Drew.  Medbury  slipped  away, 
vexed  at  the  interruption,  but  Hetty  turned 
a  relieved  face  to  the  newcomer.  In  this 
difference  lay  the  measure  of  their  love. 
88 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

Reaching  the  deck,  Drew  almost  dropped 
in  the  place  where  Medbury  had  been  sit 
ting.  He  removed  his  cap  from  his  head, 
and  passed  his  hand  across  his  forehead. 
From  the  forecastle  floated  aft,  above  the 
jangling  noises  of  the  brig,  the  faint  strains 
of  an  accordion. 

"  Just  at  this  moment  I  have  no  higher 
ambition  than  to  sit  out  there  and  play  like 
that,"  said  Drew,  turning  his  head  to  listen. 

"  It  sounds  rather  nice  at  sea,"  said  the 
girl.  "  Maybe  it's  because  I've  always  heard 
it  there  that  I  like  it." 

"  Oh,  it  isn't  that,"  he  replied.  "  It's 
the  care-free  touch  I  envy.  Care-free  — 
with  all  our  fixed  beliefs  tumbling  about 
us!  See  those  stars!  And  we  have  been 
taught  to  call  them  steadfast!  " 

She  laughed,  and  looked  at  him  mis 
chievously. 

"  You're  seasick  again,"  she  said.  "  I 
knew  it  by  the  way  you  dropped  to  the  deck." 
89 


UNDER-  BOOKING   SKIES 

"  I  am,"  he  promptly  admitted. 

11  Well,  you're  honest;  you  ought  to  be 
proud  of  that,"  she  told  him.  "  Most  men 
refuse  to  confess  to  seasickness  until  the 
fact  confesses  itself."  She  laughed. 

"  I  might  be  proud  of  being  honest  if  I 
were  not  too  much  ashamed  of  being  ill. 
The  lesser  feeling  is  lost  in  the  greater." 

11  You  would  feel  better  if  you  would  not 
watch  the  rail.  It's  the  worst  thing  you  can 
do." 

"  You  are  watching  it,"  he  said. 

"  But  I  am  never  affected,"  she  replied. 
"  Besides,  I'm  feeling  reckless  to-night." 

He  turned  and  looked  at  her  smilingly. 

' '  You  reckless !  You  are  self-control  it 
self,"  he  declared. 

It  is  strange,  but  there  are  times  when 
to  be  called  self-controlled  is  like  an  accusa 
tion. 

"  That  sounds  like  calling  me  hard  and 
unfeeling,"  she  said. 
90 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Rather  say  it's  calling  you  happy.  I 
think  there  is  no  happiness  without  self- 
control,"  he  replied. 

' '  Do  you  call  it  happiness, ' '  she  cried  — 
11  rolling  like  this?  I  think  it  is  dull." 

"  All  happiness  is  more  or  less  dull,"  he 
declared.  "  It's  the  price  it  pays  to  dis 
content,  which  is  supposed  to  know  all  the 
ups  and  downs  of  life." 

"  I  should  not  like  to  think  that,"  she 
said  soberly. 

"  Then  I  hope  your  whole  life  may  prove 
it  false,"  he  answered. 

In  the  silence  that  followed,  his  eyes, 
searching  the  night  with  the  fascination  in 
the  thought  of  discovery  that  the  sea  gives 
even  to  the  sighting  of  a  sail,  came  back  to 
her  face  and  lingered  there.  For  a  moment 
he  looked  at  her  with  the  intent,  impersonal 
gaze  that  he  had  directed  toward  the  horizon. 
She  was  leaning  against  the  guard-rail,  with 
her  hands  clasped  over  her  knees,  and  her 
91 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

eyes  turned  up  to  the  stars.  Her  head  was 
uncovered,  and  her  hair  looked  black  above 
the  gleaming  whiteness  of  her  face,  which 
wore  the  intense  look  of  abounding  vitality 
that  pallor  sometimes  gives  in  a  larger  meas 
ure  than  vivid  coloring.  As  he  watched  her 
face  in  the  dim  light,  he  became  distinctly 
alive  to  a  new  impression  —  the  impression 
that  he  was  becoming  strangely  drawn  to 
her.  The  knowledge  came  upon  him  sud 
denly,  like  a  ship  looming  above  him  in  the 
night. 

It  was  inevitable  that  his  first  thought 
should  be  of  Medbury;  but  whatever  he 
might  later  come  to  think  of  his  own  ethical 
implication,  in  this  first  moment  of  self-dis 
covery  the  thought  was  little  more  than  that 
he  should  have  a  care.  In  a  rush  of  mental 
restlessness  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  walked 
to  the  rail.  He  could  hear  the  second  mate 
as  he  tramped  steadily  back  and  forth  on  the 
quarter-deck,  passing  like  a  shuttle  from 
92 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

darkness  to  light  as  he  crossed  the  glow 
from  the  binnacle-lamp.  The  thump  of  the 
wheel  jumping  in  its  becket  was  almost  con 
tinuous  ;  it  irritated  him  as  the  louder  noises 
of  the  sea  and  the  vessel  had  not  done.  In 
the  east  a  red  light  shone  and  vanished; 
again  it  appeared  for  a  moment.  He  called 
Hetty's  attention  to  it,  but  she  did  not  rise. 
When  it  appeared  again  it  was  farther  to  the 
north. 

"  It's  a  steamer  going  home,"  she  said. 
"  It's  like  your  happiness  —  just  a  dull  light 
moving  uncertainly  through  darkness." 

"  You  mustn't  think  that,"  he  said 
gently. 

"  Oh,  it's  true,"  she  persisted;  "  I  can 
see  it's  true.  I  wanted  to  go  away,  but  it 
was  only  discontent.  If  I  had  gone,  it  would 
have  been  the  same.  I  should  have  been 
broken  in  the  first  struggle." 

"  To-morrow  the  wind  will  blow  again, 
and  you  will  see  things  in  a  different  light. 
93 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Nothing  will  matter  then,"  he  assured 
her. 

"  Do  you  think  I  should  have  succeeded 
if  I  had  gone?  "  She  turned  toward  him 
sharply  while  she  waited  for  his  answer. 

He  had  seated  himself  again,  and  he 
paused  a  moment  before  he  replied. 

"  I  think  you  would  have  put  your  whole 
heart  into  your  work,"  he  said  at  last. 
"  When  we  do  that,  we  need  not  think  of 
results  —  or  fear  them  —  need  we  f  ' 

"  I  shall  always  feel  that  it  was  right  for 
me  to  go,"  she  said,  after  a  pause.  "  The 
regret  will  remain." 

"It  is  hard  to  say  what  is  right,  we  owe 
allegiance  in  so  many  ways.  A  week  ago 
your  going  was  simply  an  interesting  thought 
to  me.  Now  I  cannot  bear  to  think  of  it." 

She  caught  her  breath  sharply. 

"  There's  your  steamer  again,"  she  ex 
claimed.  "  It's  almost  gone." 

It  came  to  him  vividly,  with  her  con- 
94 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

scions  refusal  to  follow  his  leading,  that 
he  was  not  having  a  care;  and  he  added 
in  haste:  "  I  can  see  the  tragic  significance 
of  such  a  decision,  now  that  I  am  no  longer 
a  stranger  —  this  putting  away  of  all  your 
old  life  —  your  father  and  mother.  Think 
what  it  means  to  them!  Life  has  many 
facets:  we've  got  to  look  at  them  all." 

"  Yes,"  she  said  slowly,  as  if  she  were 
looking  at  them  all  in  turn;  then  she  con 
tinued:  "  But  if  we  study  them  too  closely, 
isn't  there  danger  of  being  simply  irresolute 
and  accomplishing  nothing?  " 

'  *  To  crown  the  present  hour  —  might  that 
not  be  the  hardest,  and  therefore  the  noblest, 
task?  "  he  asked  smilingly.  "  A  nature  that 
is  overwhelmed  by  its  first  disappointment 
will  not  be  likely  to  succeed  in  any  path. 
That  is  not  yours,  I  am  sure." 

11  It  is  easy  for  you  to  say  that,"  she 
answered,  with  a  touch  of  impatience ;  ' '  you 
have  found  your  chosen  work;  I  must  stay 
95 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

at  home.  What  can  we  women  in  seaports 
do?  We  tremble  through  storms,  and  then 
wait  in  fear  for  the  marine  news."  She 
laughed  at  her  own  exaggeration. 

"  It  makes  strong,  hopeful  women,"  he 
declared  stoutly. 

11  Is  that  all  you  ask  of  your  work  —  to 
be  made  strong  and  hopeful?  "  she  de 
manded.  "  It  makes  me  think  of  life  as 
a  gymnasium." 

' '  No, ' '  he  answered  frankly ;  ' 1  but  I  have 
not  found  my  chosen  work,  or,  rather,  my 
chosen  field." 

11  May  I  ask  what  that  is?  Do  you  mind 
telling  me?  " 

"  I  shall  be  glad,"  he  replied.  "It  is 
simply  to  work  among  the  poor  in  a  large 
town  or  city.  I  cannot  go  among  the  little 
children  of  the  crowded  streets  without  a 
heartache.  That  is  where  my  work  calls  me. 
I  love  the  people  of  Blackwater,  and  I  can 
be  happy  there  when  I  can  forget  for  a  time ; 
96 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

but  I  am  not  needed.  Sometimes  I  feel  that 
no  one  is  needed,  they  are  so  firmly  fixed 
in  their  beliefs,  so  hopelessly  certain  of  them 
selves.  But  the  little  children  of  the  crowded 
streets !  "  He  broke  off  suddenly. 

They  heard  the  bell  forward  ring  out 
sharply.  Both  counted  the  strokes  in  silence. 

1 '  Eight  bells, ' '  she  murmured,  as  it  ceased. 

The  forecastle  door  opened,  and  a  shaft 
of  light  flashed  like  an  opening  fan  along 
the  wet,  shining  deck.  Shadowy  forms  began 
to  move  about,  and  vanished  in  the  darkness. 
Then  the  door  was  shut,  and  the  deck  was 
dark  again;  only  the  clamor  of  the  rolling 
vessel  and  the  sea  about  her  went  on  un 
ceasingly. 

"  I  am  glad  you  told  me,"  Hetty  said  at 
last  in  a  low  voice  that  had  in  it  a  tremor 
of  exaltation.  She  did  not  turn  to  him  as 
she  spoke,  but  kept  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
lines  of  whitened  waves  glimmering  in  the 
dark. 

97 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  It  was  little  to  tell,"  lie  said,  with  a 
laugh. 

11  It  was  much  to  know,"  she  answered 
gently. 

He  wondered  at  the  touch  of  feeling  in 
her  tone,  for  he  could  not  know  that,  hav 
ing  condemned  him  for  a  seemingly  Lao 
dicean  contentment  with  life,  with  as  little 
reason  she  was  now  prepared  to  exalt  him 
unduly,  seeing  in  his  desired  course  a  form 
of  martyrdom  at  once  moving  and  heroic. 
It  was  in  the  line  of  her  own  desire,  and 
the  thought  flashed  upon  her  that  here  was 
something  even  she  might  be  permitted  to  do. 

They  had  come  tremblingly  to  the  heights 
of  emotion:  a  little  thing  might  send  the 
streams  of  their  life  together,  or  bear  them 
farther  and  farther  apart. 


DAY  was  breaking  when  Drew  came  on 
deck  the  next  morning.  The  noises  of 
the  vessel,  which  had  clanked  and  whined  all 
night  through  his  broken  sleep,  seemed  to 
him  to  take  on  new  life  as  he  reached  the 
deck;  but  the  brig,  as  she  lay  rolling  in  the 
trough  of  the  sea,  had  the  gray,  tired  look 
of  ships  coming  home  from  long  voyages. 
There  were  no  clouds  in  the  sky,  but  the 
stars  had  faded  out,  and  even  as  he  gazed 
the  rim  of  the  sun  appeared  above  the  sea, 
flattened  out  on  the  horizon,  then  rose  in 
an  elongated  ball.  For  an  instant  a  red 
pendant  seemed  to  cling  to  the  far  edge  of 
the  ocean;  then  it  vanished,  and  the  sun, 

99 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

round  again  and  red,  had  broken  free.    Day 
had  come. 

The  ocean  had  the  glassy  aspect  of  the 
preceding  day;  as  far  as  the  eye  carried 
not  a  catspaw  darkened  the  surface.  In 
every  direction  the  white  sails  of  the  Portu 
guese  men-of-war  rose  and  fell  on  the  long 
blue  swells.  Fifty  yards  astern  the  trian 
gular  dorsal  fin  of  a  shark  moved  slowly 
across  their  track.  Drew  watched  its  silent 
progress  with  the  fascination  that  the  lands 
man,  seeing  it  for  the  first  time,  bestows 
upon  it  as  the  embodiment  of  the  cruelty 
and  mystery  of  its  abode. 

He  turned  at  the  sound  of  a  footstep,  and, 
seeing  Medbury  beside  him,  greeted  him, 
and  then  nodded  astern. 

"  It's  a  shark,  isn't  it?  "  he  asked.  "  I 
never  saw  one  before." 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  mate.     "  It's  queer, 
but  everybody  seems  to  know  them  right  off. 
Sort  of  natural  dislike,  I  guess." 
100 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Medbury  watched  it  a  moment  and  then 
looked  aloft  to  where  the  fly  hung  limp. 

"  It  beats  all,"  he  muttered;  "  there  isn't 
air  enough  to  float  a  soap-bubble."  He 
walked  to  the  pennant  halyards,  and,  unty 
ing  them,  jerked  the  fly  free  from  its  staff. 
"  It  hasn't  lifted  an  inch  in  fifteen  hours," 
he  said.  * '  Confound  it !  I  believe  the  world 
has  died  overnight!  "  Then  he  laughed  at 
his  own  ill-nature.  "  It  always  gets  on  my 
nerves  —  weather  like  this, ' '  he  explained  to 
Drew. 

He  turned  and  walked  to  the  other  side 
of  the  vessel  as  Captain  March  came  on  deck. 
He  also  looked  aloft,  glanced  at  the  binnacle 
from  mere  force  of  habit,  and  then  swept  the 
horizon  with  half-shut  eyes.  His  face  was 
inscrutable,  and  absolutely  without  emotion. 
"  It's  going  to  be  hot,"  was  his  only  remark. 
Then  he  walked  to  a  camp-chair,  and,  draw 
ing  it  to  the  rail,  sat  down,  and  began  to 
whistle  softly. 

101 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

A  moment  later  Medbury  crossed  over  to 
where  he  sat. 

' '  I  guess  I  '11  rig  up  the  triangle  this  morn 
ing  and  scrape  the  mainmast,"  he  said. 
"It's  a  good  chance." 

The  captain  squinted  aloft,  but  said  noth 
ing. 

"  I'll  start  at  the  foot,"  continued  the 
mate,  as  if  in  answer  to  unspoken  criticism. 
"  Maybe  it'll  breeze  up  before  the  men  get 
much  above  the  deck." 

"  All  right,"  said  the  captain,  and  went 
on  whistling. 

"  There  isn't  a  breath  of  air,"  said  Med 
bury.  "  I  believe  everything's  dead." 

"  Nothing  dead  about  this  roll,"  replied 
Captain  March. 

"  Well,  it  ought  to  be,"  replied  the  mate, 
and  walked  forward. 

"  I  don't  know  as  the  crew's  going  to 
rise  up  and  call  him  blessed  when  he  orders 
them  aloft  on  that  job  in  a  swell  like  this," 
102 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

said  the  captain  to  Drew;   "  but  then,  as  I 
said,  I  don't  know." 

Then  the  barefooted  crew  came  aft  with 
buckets  and  brooms  to  wash  down  the  decks, 
and  he  and  Drew  went  below.  When  they 
came  back  to  the  deck,  after  breakfast,  two 
men  were  at  the  grindstone  sharpening  their 
knives,  and  a  third  was  scraping  a  bright 
pin-rail  forward.  Medbury  sat  on  the  for 
ward  end  of  the  house,  making  double-crown 
knots  in  the  ends  of  new  man-ropes.  He  did 
not  look  up  as  Hetty  and  the  minister  came 
and  stood  over  him,  watching  his  work.  Cap 
tain  March  came  past  the  group  in  his  morn 
ing  walk. 

"  You're  not  going  to  scrape  the  main 
mast,  eh?  "he  said,  as  he  went  by.  His  eyes 
twinkled. 

Medbury  did  not  look  up  as  he  answered: 
"  No;    I  guess  I'll  keep  them  on  deck." 
Hetty  looked  aloft  at  the  mast  thrashing 
through  a  wide  arc. 

103 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

"  I  knew  you  wouldn't,"  she  said.  "  It 
would  have  been  —  unlike  you." 

Medbury  glanced  at  her  with  a  shamefaced 
smile,  but  he  made  no  reply. 

Drew  laughed. 

"  Do  you  know,  I  had  heard  so  much  of 
the  harsh  treatment  of  sailors  by  their  of 
ficers  that  I  came  on  this  voyage  prepared 
for  something  of  the  sort,  and  dreading  it," 
he  said,  in  his  slow,  deep  voice ;  ' '  but  I  have 
seen  nothing  but  consideration." 

Medbury 's  mouth  twitched  with  scornful 
amusement;  it  almost  seemed  to  him  that 
Drew  had  unknowingly  called  him  pusillani 
mous.  He  was  by  no  means  a  hard  man,  and 
was  popular  with  his  crews ;  but  he  was  young 
and  a  certain  amount  of  swagger  seemed 
amusing,  while,  in  addition,  he  had  all  the 
contempt  of  the  American  sailor  for  the 
stolid  alien  creatures  who  more  and  more 
were  finding  their  way  into  the  forecastles 
of  ships  that  carried  his  country's  flag. 
104 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  I  don't  believe  in  being  a  brute,"  he 
began ;  * *  but  —  ' ' 

"  Yes,"  broke  in  Hetty,  eagerly;  "it  is 
only  a  brute  who  will  take  advantage  of 
his  power.  I  have  been  going  to  sea  all 
my  life,  but  I  have  never  seen  cruelty.  All 
the  sailors  I  know  are  the  largest-hearted  of 
men.  I  hate  the  tales  that  blacken  them." 

"  I  have  known  them  only  ashore,"  said 
Drew,  "  and  I  certainly  never  knew  a  more 
joyous,  open-hearted  people  —  hardly  the 
sort  to  make  tyrants  of."  He  turned  to 
Medbury :  * '  But  you  were  going  to  say —  ?  ' ' 

Medbury  sharply  drew  the  strands  of  his 
rope  through  the  outer  walling  of  the  knot 
as  he  replied: 

"  Oh,  nothing." 

"  I  fancy,"  began  Drew,  "  that  sailors  are 
too  practical  a  class,  too  constantly  sur 
rounded  by  danger,  not  to  know  the  value 
of  self-restraint.  It  is  wise  to  keep  far  from 
one  the  passion  that  fires  the  mind  beyond 
105 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

the  point  where  the  every-day  work  of  living 
is  accomplished  with  the  least  friction." 

Medbury  glanced  up  as  he  spoke,  and 
caught  the  look  that  Hetty  fastened  upon 
the  speaker.  There  was  nothing  in  the  quiet 
gaze  beyond  interest  and  the  sympathy  of 
kindred  convictions,  but  it  gave  Medbury  the 
curious  sensation  of  standing  apart  from 
them,  of  being  irrevocably  alone.  He  turned 
away  with  a  new  pain  about  his  heart.  He 
was  still  thinking  of  Hetty's  look  when  Drew, 
busily  erecting  his  card-house  of  the  sailor's 
life  upon  a  foundation  of  calm  philosophy, 
asked  him  if  he  had  ever  seen  cruelty  on  ship 
board.  His  tone  was  the  confident  one  of  the 
philosopher  who,  having  formulated  a  the 
ory,  calmly  awaits  the  facts  that  will  estab 
lish  it. 

"  You  two  might  call  it  that,"  Medbury 

answered,  not  without  a  touch  of  resentment 

in  his  voice;  "  I  shouldn't.    It's  easy  enough 

to  talk  about  self-restraint,  but  when  it  means 

106 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

letting  things  go  to  the  dogs,  and  maybe  put 
ting  your  vessel  in  danger  —  ' '  He  thrust 
his  fid  between  the  strands  of  his  rope  with 
an  energy  that  seemed  to  him  adequately  to 
complete  his  meaning. 

Drew  was  dimly  aware  that  the  situation 
had  somehow  become  charged  with  feeling, 
and  remained  silent;  but  Hetty,  with  clearer 
instinct,  recognized  the  cause  of  Medbury's 
heat,  and  resented  it,  while  she  recognized 
its  potential  force,  feeling  that  she  had  un 
wittingly  been  drawn  from  the  calm  current 
of  broad  discussion  into  an  inner  vortex  of 
personal  emotion.  That  she  had  become  un 
duly  interested  in  Drew  —  she  clearly  saw 
that  the  thought  was  in  Medbury's  mind  — 
she  indignantly  denied  to  herself.  She 
turned  toward  the  sailor  with  resentment 
shining  in  her  eyes;  but  at  the  sight  of  his 
head  bowed  above  his  work,  there  flashed 
over  her  a  strange  revulsion  of  feeling.  It 
was  not  tenderness,  though  compounded  of 
107 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

tenderness,  pity,  and  the  memory  of  many 
things.  His  loyalty  to  her,  which  had  lived 
on  through  long  years  in  spite  of  varying 
encouragement,  had  sometimes  provoked  her 
vexation,  sometimes  her  complacency;  at 
this  moment  it  suddenly  appeared  to  her 
to  be  a  beautiful  thing.  His  hair  waved  a 
little  about  his  brows ;  his  face,  though  sad, 
showed  the  old  fine  courage.  She  saw  his 
close-shut  lips  held  nothing  of  harshness. 
His  hands,  brown  and  sinewy,  revealed 
strength  and  skill,  and  were  as  yet  uncoars- 
ened  by  hard  contact  with  hemp  and  canvas 
in  cold  and  wet  and  sun.  "  After  all,  he's 
a  man,"  she  thought,  with  tears  welling  in 
her  eyes. 

She  turned  and  looked  out  across  the  shin 
ing  sea,  feeling  its  immensity,  its  power  in 
the  moving  waves,  to  be  somehow  strangely 
like  the  life  that  inclosed  her  and  swept  her 
on  without  the  power  of  volition.  She  did 
not  turn  as  Drew  spoke. 
108 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Shall  we  finish  our  book?  "  he  had  asked 
her. 

From  time  to  time  in  the  last  few  days 
he  had  read  aloud  from  the  "  Idylls  of  the 
King  "  while  she  worked  at  some  trifle,  or 
sat  with  hands  clasped  in  her  lap  and  watched 
the  waves  in  a  pleasurable  emotion  to  which 
his  fine,  unaffected  voice  had  contributed 
quite  as  largely  as  the  words  of  the  poet. 
At  this  moment  his  question,  in  its  abrupt 
withdrawal  from  the  general  interest,  seemed 
tactless.  For  an  instant  she  made  no  answer. 

"  No,  not  now,"  she  said  at  last.  "  Just 
at  present  it  seems  too  unreal,  too  far  away, 
to  move  me.  I  don't  believe  I  am  an  imag 
inative  person;  life  appeals  to  me  too 
strongly. ' ' 

She  had  turned  to  watch  Medbury's  work 
while  she  was  yet  speaking,  and  Drew,  linger 
ing  a  moment,  had  gone  away  with  the  im 
pression  of  dismissal.  This  she  felt,  and 
was  troubled  by  it,  and  vexed  at  finding  her- 
109 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

self  troubled.    Her  vexation  had  the  effect 
of  bringing  her  nearer  in  spirit  to  Medbury. 

"  I  believe  I  could  do  that,"  she  said  as 
she  watched  him. 

He  looked  up  with  a  flush  of  pleasure. 

"  Want  to  try?  "  he  asked,  and  jumped 
to  his  feet.  "I'll  get  a  piece  of  manila  and 
teach  you." 

He  threw  down  a  coil  of  running  rigging 
for  a  seat  for  her,  and  together  they  laugh 
ingly  began  the  lesson. 

"  I  always  envied  the  things  boys  did," 
she  said.  "  I  know  how  I  used  to  watch 
them,  but  was  too  afraid  of  being  called  a 
tomboy  ever  to  attempt  anything.  It's  hard 
to  be  ambitious  and  sensitive,  too." 

"  I  know  you  could  run  when  you  were 
a  child,"  he  said,  smiling.  "  Do  you  remem 
ber  the  time  you  snatched  my  hat  and  I  did 
not  catch  you  till  you  got  to  Martha  Par 
sons 's  gate?  Then  you  turned  and  looked 
so  serious  that  I  did  not  dare  to  take  it." 
110 


UNDEK   ROCKING   SKIES 


. . 


Yes,"  she  answered,  with  a  laugh. 
"  And  I  remember  how  frightened  I  was 
when  yon  followed  me.  I  thought  I  had 
done  the  boldest  thing.  And  when  we 
stopped  and  just  looked  at  each  other  I 
was  sure  that  you  thought  so,  too.  Finally 
I  said,  '  Here's  your  hat,'  and  you  said, 
*  Oh,'  and  took  it.  I  don't  remember  now 
how  it  ended." 

"  I  do,"  he  said  promptly.  "  I  took  it 
and  went  away;  afterward  I  went  back,  but 
you  had  gone.  Then  I  thought  of  all  the 
things  I  ought  to  have  said  and  done  when 
it  was  too  late." 

* '  Well,  it  was  silly  enough, ' '  she  said,  dis 
missing  the  subject.  "  I  don't  know  what 
made  me  do  it." 

He  had  unlaid  the  strands  of  the  rope 
while  they  talked,  and  now,  placing  it  in 
her  hand,  he  showed  her  how  to  make  a 
bight  with  one  strand  and  pass  a  second 
around  the  first,  and  a  third  around  the 
111 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

second,  and  up  through  the  bight  of  the 
first,  forming  the  wall. 

"  Now  you  try,"  he  said,  and,  undoing  the 
knot,  passed  the  rope  to  her. 

In  a  moment  she  held  it  up  triumphantly. 

"  What  do  you  do  next?  "  she  asked. 

"  Now  we  will  put  on  the  double  crown." 

"It  is  hard,"  she  said  after  a  moment 
more.  "  It  looked  simple  enough  while  you 
were  doing  it."  She  held  the  rope  in  her 
hand  and  looked  at  him  in  smiling  despair. 
"  I  shall  never  learn." 

"  Yes,  you  will,"  he  assured  her.  "  You 
only  need  a  little  patience." 

"  You  will  need  the  patience,"  she  an 
swered. 

"  Haven't  I  always  had  it  with  you?  " 
he  asked  in  a  low  voice. 

"  Is  that  right?  "  she  demanded,  holding 
up  the  knot. 

' '  Yes ;  now  run  the  end  —  no,  this  end  — 
through  the  bight.  That's  right;  now  pull 
112 


You  will  need  the  patience/  she  said  " 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

it  taut.  You  haven't  answered  my  question, 
Hetty." 

"  You  haven't  asked  any,"  she  replied 
quickly;  and  then  added:  "  What  next  I  " 

"  Pull  it  tighter,"  he  answered,  and,  lean 
ing  forward,  drew  it  -taut,  for  an  instant 
covering  her  hands  with  his  own. 

She  drew  hers  away  quickly  and  dropped 
them  in  her  lap. 

"  It's  no  use,"  she  told  him;  "  I  shall 
never  learn." 

"  Try!  "  he  urged. 

1 '  No ;  I  cannot  even  try. ' '  She  looked 
about  her  with  restless  eyes.  Something  in 
her  face  stirred  his  foreboding. 

"  Do  you  mean,  Hetty —  " 

"  Oh,  I  mean  nothing,"  she  cried  impa 
tiently.  "  I  wish  the  sea  would  go  down.  It's 
dreadful. ' ' 

She  sprang  to  her  feet,  and,  moving  to 
the  rigging,  leaned  against  the  sheer-pole 
and  watched  the  blue  sea  rise  almost  to  the 
115 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

line  of  the  deck,  then  fall  away  with  appal 
ling  swiftness.    Medbury  followed  her  there. 

11  What's  the  matter?  "  he  demanded. 

"  Why  don't  you  whistle  for  a  wind?  ' 
she  asked  him.    "  Why  don't  you?    I  think 
I'll  go  below  until  you  do." 

11  Isn't  it  pleasanter  here?  '  he  said. 
"  You  would  call  it  a  beautiful  day  at 
home. ' ' 

11  Yes,  I  should,"  she  acknowledged.  "  It 
seems  like  April  —  April  at  home.  I  can 
shut  my  eyes  ' '  —  she  shut  them  —  * '  and  see 
just  how  it  looks:  the  big  willow  by  our 
gate  growing  green  in  a  night,  and  the  grass, 
and  the  sunlight  on  everything  —  or  rain; 
only  the  rain  makes  the  grass  greener,  and 
you  don't  mind  it  at  all  in  spring,  as  you  do 
at  other  times." 

He  had  watched  her  while  she  stood  with 
eyes  closed,  but  when  she  opened  them  sud 
denly  and  looked  at  him  with  a  smile,  he 
turned  away  in  confusion,  as  if  he  had  been 
116 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

caught  watching  her  when  he  knew  she  would 
not  care  to  be  seen. 

"  That's  the  way  your  face  always  looks 
to  me,"  he  said,  with  the  boldness  of  em 
barrassment. 

"  What  do  you  mean?  "  she  asked.  Her 
lips  parted  as  if  to  smile,  but  closed  again 
in  a  neutral  line  that  was  neither  smile  nor 
frown,  but  might  easily  become  either  when 
she  had  heard  his  explanation. 

"  Like  April  —  your  face  is  like  that.  It's 
always  changing.  I  like  it  always,  but  best 
when  you  smile,  of  course." 

' '  I  cannot  smile  at  a  speech  like  that, ' '  she 
said  primly,  and  turned  a  serious  face  from 
him. 

For  five  minutes  he  kept  his  eyes  turned 
from  her,  and  then  looked  to  see  if  her  April 
face  had  changed  again.  It  had  not,  and  a 
sigh  escaped  him. 

At  the  sigh  her  face  had  become  severe, 
but  almost  immediately  he  saw  her  lips 
117 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

twitch,  close  firmly  together,  then  part  in 
a  laugh. 

<  i  There  ?  » »  he  cried  triumphantly,  and 
laughed  with  her. 

"  Oh,  Tom,  you're  ridiculous!  "  she  cried, 
and  struggled  against  her  laughter.  But  her 
face  became  serious  again  at  once,  and  she 
added :  '  *  I  do  not  like  such  speeches.  They 
sound  silly." 

"  All  right,"  he  replied,  but  not  in  the 
tone  of  one  cast  down. 

Captain  March's  keen  eyes,  as  he  walked 
the  deck,  looking  aloft,  saw  a  slightly  frayed 
spot  in  the  maintopsail-halyard.  Crossing 
the  deck,  he  stopped  by  the  side  of  his  mate. 

"  Looks  as  if  that  halyard  wouldn't  stand 
much  strain,"  he  said.  "  Better  look  at  it 
before  long,  Mr.  Medbury."  He  pointed  to 
the  place  as  Medbury  looked  up. 

"  I  will,  sir,"  answered  Medbury. 

"  Hawkins  never  did  look  after  the  little 
things,"  the  captain  went  on,  with  gentle 
118 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

grumbling.  "  Good  man,  but  didn't  seem  to 
have  any  eyes  sometimes.  Still,  I  was  sorry 
to  have  him  go  ashore  sick.  He  can't  afford 
to  lay  idle  long.  Same  with  John  Davis. 
I  thought  he'd  jump  at  the  chance  to  take 
Hawkins's  place.  I  didn't  think  it  so  strange 
in  Bob  Markham's  backing  out:  he'd  prom 
ised  his  wife  to  stay  ashore.  But  Davis  — 
I  don't  understand  about  him.  I  never  knew 
folks  to  act  so.  Davis  seemed  pleased  when 
I  asked  him,  and  hurried  right  off  to  get  his 
things ;  but  before  I'd  hardly  turned  my  head, 
back  he  galloped  and  said  he'd  changed  his 
mind.  It  made  me  a  little  provoked;  and 
when  I  asked  him  why,  he  just  winked. 
Well!  "  He  walked  away,  still  grumbling. 
Medbury  had  not  lifted  his  eyes  from  his 
work  as  the  captain  had  talked,  but  now  he 
glanced  up,  to  find  Hetty's  eyes  watching 
him  keenly.  Something  in  the  intensity  of 
her  look  stirred  his  foreboding.  He  was  not 
wholly  unacquainted  with  the  intuitive  divi- 
119 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

nation  with  which  women  often  flash  upon 
the  secrets  men  would  withhold  from  them, 
and  now  he  braced  himself  for  the  question 
that  he  knew  was  coming. 

"  Do  you  know  why  they  would  not 
come?  "  she  asked.  Her  voice  was  tense. 

He  tried  to  show  surprise  at  the  question, 
but  knew  that  he  failed. 

"  I  suppose  they  didn't  want  to,"  he  an 
swered. 

"  Don't  you  know?  "  she  demanded. 

He  hesitated,  and  she  sprang  to  her  feet. 

"  You  needn't  tell  me,"  she  cried  with 
suppressed  passion.  "  I  know.  I  know  you 
got  them  to.  They'd  do  it  for  you.  You 
seem  to  have  obliging  friends.  Oh!  "  She 
turned  away,  but  came  back  immediately. 
"  And  now  I  suppose  everybody  in  Black- 
water  is  laughing  over  the  story.  And  laugh 
ing  at  me!  I  didn't  want  you  to  come ;  but  if 
I'd  known  this,  do  you  think  I  would  have  set 
foot  on  this  vessel  while  you  were  aboard? 
120 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

I'd  have  died  first."  She  walked  to  the  rail, 
but  came  restlessly  back.  "  Well,  it's  over 
now.  Do  you  think  I  could  go  back  home  and 
have  people  know  that  your  —  your  trick  had 
succeeded?  There  have  been  times  when  I 
have  thought  that  I  could  care  for  you  in 
the  way  you  wish,  but  I  couldn't  be  sure. 
If  my  face  is  like  April,  as  you  say,  I  think 
my  mind  is,  too.  I  cannot  be  sure.  Some 
times  I  think  I  do  not  care  for  anything; 
I  think  I  have  no  heart.  And  then,  when  I 
see  you  watching  me,  and  I  know  what  you 
are  thinking,  I  almost  hate  you,  and  want  to 
go  away  from  everything  I've  ever  known. 
But  now,  after  this,  it  is  ended.  Oh,  you 
make  me  ashamed!  ': 

He  had  heard  her  in  a  tumult  of  contend 
ing  emotions  —  shame  and  sorrow  for  hurt 
ing  her,  pity,  remorse.  Heart-sick,  he  rose 
to  his  feet. 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  hurt  you,  Hetty.  Good 
Lord !  you  know  that !  You  must  know  it !  " 
121 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

he  exclaimed.  "  And  no  one  will  know.  You 
needn't  care." 

"  Oh,  needn't  care!  "  she  cried  in  scorn. 

Then,  manlike,  because  he  was  sorry,  but 
had  no  answer,  he  became  angry. 

"  You  are  a  hard  woman,"  he  said,  in  a 
sudden  letting-go  of  all  self-control  — "  a 
hard  and  heartless  woman." 

She  shrank  from  him  as  if  he  had  struck 
her,  and  her  face  grew  white. 

"  I  wish  you  wouldn't,"  she  whispered 
passionately  —  "  wouldn't  speak  to  me.  You 
hurt  me." 

He  did  not  understand,  and  his  face  hard 
ened,  and  his  eyes  grew  hot  with  impotent 
anger.  It  was  as  if  all  the  conventions  had 
dropped  away  from  him,  and  he  had  become 
the  primitive  man.  He  could  crush  her  with 
one  hand,  he  blindly  told  himself;  yet  she 
mocked  him  and  his  strength.  All  his  life 
he  had  loved  her,  followed  her  in  devoted 
service,  but  to  what  end?  To  be  shunned, 
122 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

eluded,  mocked,  and  scorned.  He  gripped 
his  hands  tightly  together  in  his  revolt 
against  his  enforced  inaction  because  she 
was  weak  and  a  woman.  But  for  once  he 
would  speak. 

"  You've  hurt  me  for  many  a  long  year," 
he  answered  hotly,  "  but  you'll  hurt  me  no 
more. '  '  With  that  he  walked  away  as  Crom 
well  must  have  gone  from  the  Long  Parlia 
ment. 


123 


VII 

MEDBUBY  descended  to  his  room, 
opened  the  lid  of  his  desk,  and  fumbled 
about  aimlessly  with  hands  that  trembled; 
then,  as  if  he  had  found  what  he  had  been 
looking  for,  he  lowered  the  lid,  and,  leaning 
his  elbows  upon  it,  stood  looking  moodily 
before  him.  He  told  himself  that  he  was 
glad  it  was  over;  anything  was  better  than 
the  long  uncertainty  that  had  held  him  bound 
in  chains  for  years.  But  no  one  should  know 
that  he  cared,  and  he  glanced  at  the  little 
hand-glass  under  his  window  to  see  if  his 
face  had  changed.  It  cheered  him  to  note  no 
difference  since  morning,  and,  with  boyish 
affectation,  he  smiled  at  his  image  in  the 
glass.  But  suddenly,  as  if  to  test  his  strength, 
124 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

his  mind  flashed  the  image  of  Hetty  before 
him  —  her  face  turned  up  to  him  smilingly, 
as  he  had  often  seen  it,  her  eyes,  every  fea 
ture.  With  a  groan  he  dropped  his  head  upon 
his  arms. 

He  put  the  mood  away  from  him  sternly, 
and  began  to  debate  with  himself  whether  it 
would  be  better  to  keep  on  loving  her  all  his 
days,  going  to  his  grave  a  sad  and  lonely 
man,  or  gaily  to  turn  to  another  at  once,  to 
show  how  little  he  cared.  He  came  to  no 
decision  because  he  could  not  determine  which 
course  would  hurt  her  more. 

It  was  his  watch  below,  but  he  could  not 
sleep,  so  taking  his  log-book,  pen,  and  ink 
out  into  the  cabin,  he  sat  down  at  the  table, 
though  it  was  neither  the  time  nor  the  place 
for  writing  up  his  log. 

Mrs.  March  was  there  alone,  and,  saying 
that  he  could  not  write  at  his  desk,  Medbury 
opened  his  book. 

He  wrote  down  the  date,  saw  that  he  had 
125 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

written  that  of  two  days  before,  so  scratched 
it  out,  and  replaced  it  with  the  correct  one, 
and  slowly  began  to  write  "  Dead  calm  "  in 
bold  letters  up  and  down  the  column  for 
winds. 

"  How  long  do  you  suppose  this  is  going 
to  last,  Tom!  "  asked  Mrs.  March. 

Medbury  looked  up  and  shook  his  head. 

"  There's  no  telling.  Wind's  an  uncertain 
thing;  nothing  more  so,"  he  replied,  and 
dipped  his  pen  into  the  ink,  squared  his  shoul 
ders,  and  made  the  down  stroke  of  the  first 
letter  of  a  new  word  with  a  care  for  details 
that  seemed  to  indicate  that  he  had  left  the 
subject  of  winds  irrevocably  behind,  and  then 
added,  "  except  women." 

Mrs.  March  had  thought  the  sentence  fin 
ished,  and  had  taken  up  her  knitting  again. 
Now  she  merely  nodded. 

"  It's  true,"  she  said  impartially.  "  Most 
women  wouldn't  know  their  own  minds  if 
they  were  to  come  upon  them  in  broad  day- 
126 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

light.  They  are  like  men  in  that."  She  shot 
an  amused  glance  toward  the  young  man. 

' '  You  know  them, ' '  he  said  bitterly,  ignor 
ing  her  last  sentence,  and  secretly  disap 
pointed  at  such  ready  acquiescence,  which 
indicated,  he  feared,  a  jocular  state  of  mind. 

"  You  mean  I  don't  know  them,"  corrected 
Mrs.  March.  ' '  No  one  does.  Do  you  suppose 

I  know  my  own  daughter's?    No  more  than 
she  does  herself.    I  suppose  you  were  think 
ing  of  her,  weren't  you?  " 

"  It's  all  over,"  he  answered,  and  laid 
down  his  pen,  but  continued  to  make  motions 
across  the  page  with  his  finger. 

Mrs.  March  showed  no  surprise,  but  she 
ceased  knitting,  apparently  out  of  respect  for 
the  young  man's  feelings. 

"  How  do  you  know?  "  she  asked. 

11  She  just  told  me  so,"  replied  Medbury, 
glad  that  he  could  at  last  unburden  himself. 

I 1  She  said  she  sometimes  thought  she  had  no 
heart.     She  told  me  that  there  were  times 

127 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

when  she  had  thought  that  she  might  care 
for  me,  but  now  she  knew  her  own  mind.  So 
it's  all  over." 

' '  Know  her  own  mind !  Fiddlesticks !  ' ' 
exclaimed  Mrs.  March,  and  proceeded  to  knit 
again.  "  I  guess  you've  pestered  her  in  some 
way,  and  so  she  said,  *  Now  I'll  decide.'  I 
suppose  you've  told  her  often  enough  that 
you  couldn't  live  without  her,  and  should 
always  feel  that  way.  It's  perfectly  natural 
for  a  girl  to  want  to  see  if  you  can't." 

' '  Then  you  think  it  may  come  out  all  right, 
after  all  ?  "  he  asked  quickly. 

She  made  a  little  murmur  of  dissent. 

11  I  couldn't  go  so  far  as  to  say  that.  It 
may  be  just  pretense,  and  it  may  be  the  plain 
truth,  and  it  may  be  she  doesn't  know.  You 
can't  tell.  You've  got  to  wait  and  see." 

"  Well,"  he  replied  gloomily,  "  I  guess 
it's  all  over."  He  was  not  going  to  be  so 
weak,  he  told  himself,  as  to  begin  to  hope 
again. 

128 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  I've  always  thought  it  would  come  out 
right  in  the  end,"  continued  Mrs.  March. 
"  You  know  I  don't  feel  like  Cap'n  March. 
I've  always  said,  '  Let  the  young  folks  settle 
it  for  themselves  ';  and  I've  always  liked 
you,  Tom.  But  you've  always  been  too  hum 
ble,  and  she 's  been  too  certain  of  you.  I  kind 
o '  thought,  when  you  took  things  in  your  own 
hands  and  came  this  trip,  it  was  the  best 
thing  you  could  have  done.  A  girl  likes  a 
masterful  man." 

"  She  told  me  it  was  the  worst  thing," 
Medbury  replied. 

"  Then  I  guess  she  was  afraid  of  herself," 
said  Mrs.  March,  with  conviction.  ' *  She  was 
afraid  she'd  have  to  give  in." 

Medbury  shook  his  head  doubtfully  as  he 
said: 

"  I  don't  know  why  she  should  be  afraid, 
Mrs.  March." 

"  Because  a  girl's  love  is  a  funny  thing. 
There's  fear  in  it,  and  pretense,  and  bash- 
129 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

fulness,  and  coldness,  and  all  the  craziest 
things  under  the  sun." 

He  hesitated  a  moment  before  speaking, 
and  then  said,  with  boyish  shyness : 

' '  She 's  known  me  so  long,  and  known  how 
I  felt,  sometimes  it  seems  to  me  that  maybe 
it 's  grown  tiresome  to  her.  A  man  like  Drew, 
now,  who  hasn't  known  her  long  —  if  he 
cared —  "  He  hesitated. 

"  I've  thought  that,  too,"  said  Mrs.  March, 
gently. 

The  cabin  door  opened,  and  they  heard 
Hetty's  laugh  near.  It  had  the  peculiarly 
resonant  quality  of  a  voice  on  deck  in  a  calm, 
heard  by  one  below.  It  also  sounded  happy. 
Medbury  slipped  away  to  his  room. 

The  last  words  Mrs.  March  had  spoken 
were  in  his  mind,  and  he  put  his  book  away 
in  bitterness  of  spirit.  He  heard  Hetty  de 
scend  into  the  cabin,  speak  to  her  mother,  and 
then  pass  his  door,  going  up  the  forward 
companionway.  A  sudden  wild  impulse  to 
130 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

be  aggressive  seized  him,  and,  leaving  his 
room,  he,  too,  ascended  to  the  deck. 

She  was  standing  outside  the  cabin  door, 
and  she  turned  and  smiled  as  he  drew  near. 

* '  I  thought  it  was  your  watch  below, ' '  she 
said  pleasantly. 

He  did  not  even  look  at  her,  but,  hurrying 
to  the  booby-hatch,  threw  open  the  sliding 
hood  and  descended. 

"  Now  I've  done  it,"  he  said,  as  he  seated 
himself  upon  a  coiled  hawser.  *  *  What  a  fool 
I  can  be  when  I  really  put  my  mind  to  it !  " 

But  even  with  this  repulse  of  her  he  was 
not  satisfied ;  he  wondered  why  he  had  not  at 
least  looked  at  her  with  scorn,  and  he  thought 
of  several  bitter  speeches  that  would  have 
been  better  than  silence. 


131 


vin 

MBS.  MAECH  sat  in  a  steamer-chair 
wedged  in  between  the  side  of  the 
cabin  and  the  lounge,  the  captain  was  smok 
ing,  and  Drew  held  his  book  unopened  in  his 
hand,  when  Hetty  went  below  later  in  the 
morning. 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  said  Mrs. 
March.  "  I  don't  see  how  you  keep  from 
tumbling  overboard,  we  roll  so.  Why  don't 
your  father  stop  it,  —  pour  oil  on  the  water, 
or  something,  —  if  he's  such  a  good  sailor? 
But  he  only  smokes.  He  doesn't  even  tell  us 
how  much  worse  it  was  on  some  other  trip. 
I  thought  sailors  always  did  that.  I'm  sure 
they  talk  of  nothing  else  ashore.  Just  hear 
those  dishes  rattle!  " 

132 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  If  you'd  only  go  up  on  deck,  mother," 
Hetty  advised,  "  you'd  not  mind  it  so  much. 
It  doesn't  seem  so  bad  there.  It's  a  beautiful 
day." 

11  No,"  her  mother  answered;  "  I'll  stay 
here.  You  know  how  a  pussy-cat  will  crouch 
down  and  shut  her  eyes  when  you  go  to  box 
her  ears;  well,  I'm  like  that.  I  don't  want 
to  see  what's  coming;  I  know  well  enough." 

"  That's  like  Billy  Marvin,"  said  Captain 
March,  with  a  chuckle. 

"  Then  Billy  Marvin's  smarter 'n  I  ever 
took  him  to  be,"  said  Mrs.  March. 

The  captain  took  his  pipe  from  his  mouth 
and  turned  to  Drew. 

"  I  don't  know's  you've  ever  met  Billy," 
he  said;  "  but  he's  one  of  our  Blackwater 
folks.  He's  been  going  to  sea  a  good  many 
years,  but  he's  never  got  beyond  the  galley. 
Five  or  six  years  ago  he  went  out  as  steward 
with  Cap'n  Dave  Barker  on  the  old  Maggie 
P.  Monroe,  and  off  Cape  Fear  one  night  they 
133 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

struck  a  pretty  lively  southeaster,  and  for  a 
time  it  looked  pretty  dubious.  Cap'n  Dave 
is  kind  of  excitable  in  bad  weather,  and  he 
got  to  raving  up  and  down  the  deck  and 
declaring  they  were  all  going  to  kingdom 
come  before  morning,  and  everybody  was 
pretty  well  scared.  Well,  Cap'n  Dave's  a 
good  deal  better  sailor  than  he  is  prophe- 
sier,  and,  the  gale  going  down  before  day 
break,  they  all  felt  pretty  good,  but  tired  out 
from  being  on  deck  all  night,  and  sharp-set 
for  breakfast.  Well,  seven  bells  came,  but  no 
signs  of  Billy,  so  Cap'n  Dave  sent  the  mate 
forward  to  stir  him  up.  He  found  the  galley 
closed,  with  no  sign  of  fire  inside,  and  Billy 
fast  asleep  in  his  bunk  just  off  the  galley. 
The  mate  picked  up  a  dish-pan  and  banged  it 
up  against  the  boarding  right  by  Billy's  head, 
expecting  to  see  him  jump  straight  through 
the  deck.  All  he  did  was  to  turn  over  slowly 
and  look  at  the  mate.  The  mate  said  he  didn't 
even  blink.  Well,  he  used  some  pretty  strong 
134 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

language,  and  Billy  tumbled  out  and  began  to 
hustle  around.  He  said  Cap'n  Dave  was  so 
certain  they  were  going  to  the  bottom  before 
morning,  that  it  seemed  a  pity  wasting  time 
and  strength  to  wind  his  clock  and  set  the 
alarm,  so  he  just  tumbled  in,  thinking  he 
might  as  well  be  comfortable  and  get  a  good 
night's  sleep,  if  it  was  going  to  be  his  last. 
Then  he  turned  to  the  mate  —  he  was  raking 
out  his  stove  —  and,  grinning  sheepishly, 
said :  '  Mr.  Thompson,  I  thought  you  was  the 
angel  Gabriel  when  you  started  all  that 
racket,  blest  if  I  didn't!  '  Cap'n  Dave  asked 
him  afterward  if  he  was  disappointed  when 
he  saw  the  mate  standing  over  him  instead 
of  what  he'd  expected.  Billy  thought  a  min 
ute,  and  then  said:  '  Well,  cap'n,  if  you'd 
kind  o'  set  your  mind  on  seeing  a  first-class 
show  performance,  and  then  after  you'd 
paid  for  your  seat  and  was  good  and  ready, 
if  the  curtain  should  go  up,  and,  lo  and 
behold!  there  wasn't  nothing  there  but 
135 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

just  Sam  Thompson,  what  would  you  'a' 
been?  '  " 

Mrs.  March  laughed  with  the  rest,  and, 
leaning  forward,  touched  her  daughter's  arm. 

"  Don't  you  remember  the  winter  Billy's 
wife  got  religion?  "  she  asked.  "  I  don't 
know  about  telling  a  minister  that ;  he  might 
think  that  Blackwater  was  pretty  stony  soil. 
You  see, ' '  —  she  turned  to  Drew,  —  *  *  the 
vessel  Billy  was  in  was  long  overdue,  and 
folks  were  getting  uneasy  about  her.  There 
was  a  big  revival  that  winter,  and  Billy's 
wife  got  to  coming  every  night  and  going  for 
ward  to  the  mourners '  bench ;  and,  first  and 
last,  a  good  many  prayers  were  offered  for 
her  husband.  Well,  when  everybody  had 
about  given  him  up,  the  vessel  got  in,  with 
Billy  safe  and  sound.  That  was  the  end  of 
Maria's  church-going.  Finally  the  minister 
went  around  to  find  out  why  she  had  lost  all 
her  interest,  and  she  told  him.  *  Mr.  Snow,' 
she  said,  '  Billy  wasn't  in  a  bit  of  danger  all 
136 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

the  time  we  was  a-praying  for  him.  He  said 
they  didn't  have  wind  enough  to  blow  the 
smoke  away  from  his  galley  stovepipe,  and 
what  we  ought  to  have  done  was  to  pray  for 
a  gale  of  wind.  That  kind  o'  made  me  lose 
all  faith  in  the  deficiency  of  prayer. '  ' ' 

' '  I  suppose  she  thought  that  the  good  Lord 
could  look  out  for  folks  at  sea  a  good  deal 
better  than  those  who  didn't  know  the  cir 
cumstances,"  commented  Captain  March. 
"  That  doesn't  sound  unreasonable."  His 
eyes  twinkled  as  he  looked  at  the  minister. 

11  I  fear  there  are  many  that  have  very 
queer  notions  about  prayer,"  said  Drew, 
smiling.  "  Once  I  heard  a  man  pray:  '  0 
Lord,  keep  us  from  burning  the  candle  of  life 
at  both  ends,  and  snuffing  the  ashes  in  thy 
face!  '  It  was  a  little  startling." 

1  *  It  does  sound  a  little  familiar, ' '  admitted 

Mrs.  March.    "  It's  funny  how  free  we  can 

be  with  the  Lord  in  our  prayers,  when,  if  we 

stood  face  to  face  with  him,  we  wouldn't  dare 

137 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

whisper  a  word  or  lift  our  eyes.  I  think  a 
good  many  of  us,  if  we  ever  do  get  to  heaven, 
will  feel  more  like  hiding  our  faces  than  re 
joicing  when  we  think  of  some  of  the  things 
we've  prayed  for.  But  maybe  such  people 
won't  get  there,  after  all."  She  spoke  with 
so  great  an  air  of  relief  that  the  others 
laughed. 

"  Don't  you  want  them  to  go,  mother?  " 
asked  Hetty. 

"  Well,  I  don't  think  it's  the  place  for  folks 
who  don't  feel  as  though  they  are  going  to 
enjoy  every  bit  of  it,  do  you?  "  Mrs.  March 
replied. 

Hetty  laughed  uneasily,  and  glanced  at  the 
minister. 

"  Mother,"  she  said,  "  aren't  you  afraid 
Mr.  Drew  will  think  you  speak  too  lightly  of 
sacred  things?  He  doesn't  know  you  as  we 
do." 

"  Don't  think  me  so  narrow,  please,"  Drew 
protested,  smiling.  '  *  I  hope  I  can  distinguish 
138 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

between  perfect  frankness  of  character  and 
irreverence. ' ' 

Mrs.  March  looked  from  one  to  the  other 
in  silence,  a  trifle  awed  at  the  thought  of  her 
self  in  the  role  of  blasphemer.  Her  confusion 
was  only  momentary,  however. 

"  Did  I  say  anything  very  dreadful,  my 
dear?  "  she  asked.  "  I  didn't  know  it.  I 
don't  like  moping  here,  and  if  I'm  going  to 
like  it  hereafter,  I  shall  be  a  good  deal 
changed,  that's  all.  And  if  I'm  going  to  be 
so  much  changed  as  not  to  be  myself,  I  don't 
see  what  satisfaction  it 's  going  to  be.  I  might 
as  well  be  like  foolish  Susan  Burtis,  and  have 
no  character  at  all." 

The  others  laughed,  but  Hetty  scarcely 
heard  her.  She  sat  where  she  could  see 
through  the  narrow  windows  the  line  of  sea 
and  sky  as  the  brig  rolled  to  port;  then  it 
flew  up,  and  the  bright  sunlight  flashed  across 
her  face  and  along  the  floor  of  the  cabin. 
Turning  at  last,  her  eyes  met  Drew's. 
139 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Did  you  learn  how  to  make  it?  "he  asked 
her. 

1 '  The  knot  ?    No,  I  gave  it  up. ' ' 

"  Like  the  reading?  " 

"  I  didn't  give  that  up.  You  carried  the 
book  away." 

"  I  can  bring  it  back." 

She  shook  her  head. 

11  Not  yet,"  she  told  him;  then  she  turned 
to  her  father.  "  Isn't  the  wind  ever  going  to 
come  again?  "  she  asked. 

"  Well,"  replied  Captain  March,  "  it 
brought  us  here,  and  I  guess  it'll  carry  us 
away.  It  generally  does." 

"  It's  very  slow,"  she  complained. 

"  It  doesn't  consider  us,  my  dear,"  he  re 
plied.  Then  he  rose  slowly  and  went  up  the 
companionway,  and  a  moment  later  they 
heard  him  whistling  for  a  wind. 

Hetty  jumped  to  her  feet. 

' '  Father  must  see  something  —  a  catspaw 
at  least,"  she  exclaimed.  "  I'm  going  to  find 
140 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

out."  With  that  she,  too,  sought  the  deck, 
followed  by  Drew. 

Captain  March  stood  sweeping  the  sea 
with  his  glass;  but  as  they  approached  him 
he  lowered  it,  and  went  silently  below. 

"  There  isn't  one  —  not  one,"  said  Hetty, 
as  she  looked  about  for  the  dark  streaks  of 
catspaws.  Three  great  rollers  came  sweep 
ing  in,  and  they  rocked  and  pitched  with  the 
might  of  them.  The  girl  caught  at  the  rail 
for  support.  "  It  makes  one  think  of  the 
words,  *  Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand,'  doesn't  it?  "  she  said 
solemnly. 

11  Yes,"  he  answered. 

"It  makes  me  feel  humble,  but  useless,  and 
I  do  not  care  to  feel  like  that, ' '  she  said.  * '  I 
want  to  be  doing  things.  Doesn't  life  seem 
barren  to  you  here?  " 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  No,"  he  replied.  "  Life  means  just  as 
much  as  we  put  into  it,  I  fancy,  and  these  days 
143 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

have  meant  much  for  me.  I  should  not  care 
to  have  them  blotted  out." 

She  had  turned  abruptly  just  as  they  rolled 
down  on  a  long  swell,  and,  stumbling  against 
the  bitts,  with  a  gasp  fell  outboard  across 
the  low  rail. 

Drew  leaped  toward  her  just  in  time.  His 
hand,  flashing  out,  caught  her  as  she  was  slip 
ping  from  the  rail,  and  brought  her  back 
against  his  breast.  For  an  instant  he  held 
her  there. 

11  Hetty!  0  Hetty!  "  he  gasped,  as  their 
eyes  met. 

"  Don't!  for  pity's  sake,  don't!"  she 
whispered,  and,  pulling  herself  free,  sank 
upon  the  bitts,  put  her  hands  to  her  face,  and 
laughed  hysterically.  In  a  moment  she  looked 
up. 

"  Don't  tell  them,"  she  said.    "  I  should 

not  like  to  have  them  know  I  fell. ' '    Then  she 

walked   unsteadily  toward   the   cabin   door. 

Half-way  there,  she  looked  back.    "  I  ought 

144 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

to  thank  you, ' '  she  said,  in  a  low  voice, ' '  and 
I  do."  And  with  that  she  disappeared. 

Medbury,  overhauling  a  spare  sail  on  the 
main-deck,  had  not  seen  it,  but  the  sailor  with 
him  had,  and  his  exclamation  had  made  Med 
bury  turn  quickly,  only  to  see  Hetty  standing 
with  Drew's  arm  about  her.  He  stooped  to 
his  work  again  with  shaking  fingers ;  but  the 
sailor  stood  still,  staring. 

Medbury  glanced  at  him,  his  face  growing 
white. 

1 '  Here !  "  he  said  savagely,  and  the  sailor 
turned  to  his  task  again  without  a  word. 

The  day  dragged  interminably.  Hetty  re 
mained  steadily  in  her  room;  through  his 
watches  on  deck  Medbury  drove  the  men  from 
one  task  to  another  with  a  feverish  harshness 
wholly  unusual,  and  which  brought  his  watch 
to  the  forecastle  at  the  end  of  the  day  in 
heated  and  profane  weariness.  Drew  spent 
the  time  on  deck  with  a  book,  sometimes  read 
with  slight  comprehension,  but  more  often 
145 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

closed  over  his  finger,  while  he  watched  the 
gleaming  whiteness  of  the  sea,  seeing  now  a 
school  of  flying-fish  run  like  flashes  of  quick 
silver  through  the  long  arcs  of  their  flight, 
and  now  the  dorsal  fin  of  a  shark,  like  an 
inverted  ploughshare,  cut  the  surface  of  the 
barren  glebe.  Even  Captain  March's  im 
perturbability  became  less  rocklike.  Once  he 
paused  at  Drew's  side  with  a  grumbling  sound 
that  was  clearly  a  sigh. 

"  Well,  it's  '  Paddy's  hurricane,'  and  no 
mistake,"  he  said.  "  I1  never  saw  anything 
like  it.  Usually  there's  a  little  air  stirring 
somewhere  about.  You'd  think  that  some 
thing  queer  had  got  into  things,  wouldn't 
you?  " 

He  had  been  standing  balancing  himself 
easily  to  the  swing  of  the  deck,  but  there  came 
a  vicious  lunge,  which  stopped  suddenly,  as 
if  arrested  by  a  great  hand,  and  he  went  stag 
gering  down  the  slope  with  swaying  arms, 
like  a  collapsing  sprinter.  When  he  brought 
146 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

up  against  the  rail,  he  talked  on  in  a  level 
voice  that  recognized  no  interruption: 

"  It's  queer  about  a  calm:  there's  noise 
enough  in  it  if  a  sea's  running,  and  it  gets 
on  your  nerves;  but  when  the  wind  blows 
again,  you  feel  as  if  you'd  just  come  out  of 
an  air-tight  room,  and  the  sound  of  the  wind 
makes  you  want  to  shout.  There's  Mr.  Med- 
bury,  now;  he's  been  nagging  the  men  all 
the  afternoon  as  if  he  was  afraid  without 
the  sound  of  his  voice,  like  a  boy  whistling 
on  a  dark  road.  It's  ridiculous  in  a  grown 
man,  but  it's  natural  enough." 

Drew  flushed,  but  made  no  reply.  He, 
too,  had  been  thinking  of  Medbury,  but  his 
thoughts  were  not  enviable.  He  had  been 
false  to  a  man  who  had  trusted  him,  he  told 
himself,  and  he  had  shown  feeling  that  he 
had  no  moral  right  to  show.  It  was  in  vain 
that  he  tried  to  convince  himself  that  his 
right  to  Hetty  was  as  great  as  Medbury 's 
own;  in  his  heart  he  felt  that  it  was  not. 
147 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

And  what  of  the  girl?  he  asked  himself,  in 
growing  remorse.  After  his  action  of  the 
morning,  could  he  again  meet  her  on  the 
old  footing  of  friendly  fellowship!  He  could 
not  go  on,  but  how  could  he  now  draw  back? 
In  any  way  that  he  looked,  he  could  see  noth 
ing  but  his  moral  cowardice. 

In  a  mental  restlessness  that  he  could  not 
allay,  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  walked  forward 
to  the  break  in  the  deck.  The  sun,  a  copper- 
colored  ball,  was  nearing  the  horizon,  and 
Medbury  and  his  men  were  gathering  up  the 
sail  that  they  had  been  patching;  one  of  the 
crew  was  sweeping  up  the  deck.  The  queru 
lous  complaining  of  Medbury 's  voice  floated 
aft,  the  human  undertone  in  the  jangling 
noises  of  disturbed  nature. 

For  a  moment  Drew  watched  the  scene 
before  him,  and  then  descending  the  steps  and, 
hurrying  across  the  plank  that  was  blocked 
high  above  the  water  that  swashed  across  the 
deck  from  scupper  to  scupper,  he  stopped  at 
148 


UNDER   SOCKING   SKIES 

the  galley  door.  The  steward  looked  up 
gloomily,  but,  seeing  Drew,  showed  his  gleam 
ing  teeth  in  a  perfunctory  smile  that  had  none 
of  its  usual  geniality.  Through  the  high  slide 
in  the  partition  between  the  galley  and  the 
forecastle  Drew  could  hear  the  watch  troop 
ing  in  with  angry  mutterings  against  the 
mate. 

The  steward  grinned,  and  jerked  his  head 
toward  the  forecastle. 

"  Yo'  heah  dat?  "  he  said.  "  Dese  heah 
cahms  trouble-breedehs  f aw  shuah.  Ole  mahn 
Satan  done  chase  dat  buckra  mate's  soul 
roun'  de  stump  all  eb'nin'.  Two,  free  bad 
mahns  aboa'd  dis  hookeh,  en  two,  free 
cowahds.  Dose  cowahds  been  da  worse  — 
some  dahk  night.  Dat  buckra  mate  betteh 
watch  out."  He  laughed. 

Drew  stirred  uneasily.    The  threats  of  the 

crew  and  the  scarcely  understood  warning 

of  the  West  Indian  steward  had  to  his  mind 

something  of  the  character  of  a  Greek  tragic 

149 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

chorus  foretelling  doom,  and  presently  he 
moved  away  out  of  hearing,  not  caring  to 
have  even  negatively  any  part  in  the  moving 
finger  of  Fate. 

He  wandered  about  aimlessly  for  a  while, 
dreading  to  approach  Medbury,  who,  now 
that  his  work  was  done,  stood  near  the  main- 
rigging  with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  his  spirit 
for  the  moment  at  peace.  Drew  had  little 
knowledge  of  sailors,  but  he  was  sufficiently 
a  man  of  the  world  to  know  that  the  irre 
pressible  threats  of  the  forecastle  meant 
little.  Still,  the  steward  had  hinted  at  danger, 
and,  yielding  to  the  other's  better  knowledge 
of  his  little  world,  Drew  finally  went  aft  to 
warn  the  mate. 

Medbury  looked  up  sharply  as  Drew  ap 
proached,  but  turned  his  eyes  away  imme 
diately.  In  the  silence  that  followed  neither 
stirred,  but,  resting  their  arms  upon  the 
sheer-pole,  each  seemed  absorbed  in  the  cloud 
less  panorama  of  the  closing  day. 
150 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

The  sun  sank  lower  and  lower ;  one  by  one 
the  crew  came  out  of  the  forecastle,  and, 
dipping  up  buckets  of  water,  sluiced  them 
selves  with  the  noisy  abandon  of  water- 
spaniels.  The  pungent  scent  of  tobacco 
floated  aft,  and  now  the  sound  of  a  laugh,  or 
the  scuffle  of  feet  upon  the  deck.  From  the 
galley  came  the  soft,  slurred  speech  of  the 
steward,  lifted  high  in  a  quick  exchange  of 
wit  with  his  forecastle  neighbors,  and  fol 
lowed  by  the  almost  continuous  flood  of  his 
unrestrained  cachinnation.  Clearly  the  day 
was  ending  in  peace. 

This  peacefulness,  so  at  variance  with  the 
scarcely  restrained  passion  that,  a  moment 
before,  had  sent  him  aft  to  warn  Medbury 
of  danger,  left  Drew  strangely  bewildered. 
He  turned  to  his  companion,  and  with  a  smile 
said: 

"  Do  you  know,  a  moment  ago  I  thought 
that  the  crew  was  on  the  verge  of  mutiny; 
now  I  feel  as  if  I  had  been  dreaming.  I  don't 
151 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

understand  it.  They  are  like  care-free  chil 
dren  now.  I  can't  believe  they  are  such  con 
summate  actors." 

Medbury  turned  to  him  and  grinned. 

"  What  made  you  think  that?  "  he  asked. 

' 1  I  was  at  the  galley  door  and  heard  them 
making  threats.  The  steward  seemed  to 
think  there  was  danger  —  to  you, ' '  Drew  an 
swered.  "  I  thought  I  ought  to  warn  you; 
but  now  it  seems  silly. ' ' 

"  A  sailorman's  threat  doesn't  mean  any 
thing,"  Medbury  told  him,  "  and  prophesy 
ing  evil  is  the  '  doctor's  '  trade.  He's  a  big 
voodoo  out  home  in  Santa  Cruz,  and  half  the 
negroes  on  the  island  will  go  five  miles  out 
of  their  way  to  avoid  him." 

Drew  paused  a  moment  before  speaking, 
then  he  said  slowly: 

"  Well,  my  crisis  was  only  a  mare's  nest, 
it  seems.  I  was  beginning  to  think  it  was 
to  be  a  day  of  adventures.  One  seemed 
enough. ' ' 

152 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 


i  i 


One?  '  queried  Medbury,  looking  up 
sharply. 

* '  Yes ;  Miss  March  fell  across  the  rail.  I 
caught  her  just  in  time.  I  thought  you  saw." 

Medbury 's  face  flushed. 

"  I  didn't  see,"  he  said.  "  I  didn't  under 
stand." 

It  was  Drew's  face  that  flushed  now. 

"  I  ought  to  explain,"  he  began,  but  Med 
bury  broke  in: 

"  You  haven't  anything  to  explain  to  me. 
I'm  the  mate  of  this  vessel;  nothing  more. 
That's  all  the  interest  I've  .got  here,  and  all 
I  want." 

With  that  he  walked  away.  He  knew  it 
was  childish,  but,  having  let  himself  go,  he 
was  no  longer  able  to  exercise  his  self-re 
straint  till  the  whole  madness  had  passed. 


153 


IX 


AS  Captain  March  went  up  the  compan- 
ionway  after  supper,  he  thought  he 
felt  a  puff  of  air  across  his  face.  Stepping 
out  upon  the  deck,  his  eyes  instinctively 
turned  to  the  northeast,  from  which  direction 
he  expected  the  wind.  A  dove-colored  light 
still  shone  in  the  eastern  sky;  below  it  the 
sea  was  a  darker  color,  irradiated  by  the 
glowing  west. 

His  daughter  and  the  young  men  had  fol 
lowed  him,  and  now  she  touched  his  arm. 

"  Isn't  that  a  catspaw?  "  she  asked,  and 
pointed  northward,  where  a  dark  film  of  pur 
ple  seemed  to  roughen  the  long  slope  of  a 
swell  that  shone  like  pink  satin.  Even  as  they 
looked,  the  slope  became  a  shallow  bowl,  and 
154 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

the  patch  of  purple  faded  to  the  uniform  gray 
of  the  hollowed  wave. 

Captain  March  shook  his  head  and  sighed. 

' '  It  does  beat  the  deuce, ' '  he  said. 

This  was  as  wide  a  departure  from  the 
placid  philosophy  with  which  he  looked  upon 
life  as  he  ever  gave  expression  to;  and  his 
daughter  and  his  mate,  who  knew  him  equally 
well,  recognized  in  it  the  extent  of  his  mental 
disturbance.  To  them  both  the  prolonged 
calm,  in  the  changing  twilight,  took  on  an 
aspect  of  uncanniness.  It  was  as  if  they  stood 
absolutely  alone,  the  last  of  living  things,  in 
a  chaos  of  dead  waters,  under  the  sweeping 
throng  of  stars,  which  saw  not  and  heeded 
not  the  blotting  out  of  their  small  world. 
Tacitly  both  had  agreed  to  give  no  sign  of 
their  changed  relations  so  long  as  they  were 
compelled  to  meet  daily. 

Medbury  slipped  away  forward  for  a  turn 
about  the  deck.  He  looked  at  the  lights  to  see 
if  they  were  in  order. 

155 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

* '  They  might  as  well  be  kept  burning, ' '  he 
muttered,  "  though  God  knows  what  good 
they  are. ' ' 

Back  on  the  quarter-deck,  when  he  returned 
from  his  round,  he  found  the  others  leaning 
over  the  rail  in  silence.  It  had  suddenly 
grown  dark,  and  a  haze  had  come  up,  obscur 
ing  the  stars  and  the  sea.  He  paused  near 
Hetty,  who  looked  up,  smiled,  and  made  room 
for  him. 

"  We  thought  we  heard  the  beat  of  a 
steamer's  paddle  just  now,'*  she  said. 
"Listen!  " 

He  leaned  over  the  rail  beside  her,  but  for 
a  long  time  heard  nothing  but  the  whine  of 
spars,  the  rattle  of  the  main-sheet  blocks  as 
the  boom  swung  them  taut,  and  the  jump  of 
the  wheel  in  its  becket.  At  intervals  there 
came  the  sound  of  water  dripping  from  the 
channels  or  spouting  from  the  scuppers. 
These  sounds  seemed  to  make  more  acute  the 
silence  of  the  sea,  which  seemed  like  a  living, 
156 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

threatening  presence.  At  last  Medbury  stood 
up. 

' '  There 's  nothing, ' '  he  said. 

' '  Listen !  ' '  said  Hetty,  in  a  low  voice,  and 
again  he  dropped  his  elbows  to  the  rail. 

Suddenly  there  came  a  quick  succession  of 
muffled  throbs,  like  the  far-off  churning  sound 
of  a  steamer 's  paddle-wheel ;  then  it  ceased  as 
absolutely  as  if  a  door  had  been  closed  noise 
lessly  upon  it. 

"  There!  "  cried  Hetty. 

Fully  ten  minutes  passed  before  they  heard 
it  again. 

"  It's  queer,"  said  Medbury.  "  There 
wasn't  a  sign  of  a  steamer  in  sight  at  sunset. 
She  must  be  far  away,  and  we  hear  her  only 
when  we're  both  on  the  top  of  a  swell.  Sound 
carries  a  long  way  on  a  night  like  this." 

Captain  March  straightened  up. 

"  Bring  me  the  glasses,  Mr.  Medbury,"  he 
said. 

Medbury  brought  them,  and  the  captain 
157 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

slowly  swept  the  horizon;  then  he  crossed 
the  deck  and  walked  to  the  main-rigging. 
Coming  back,  he  handed  the  glasses  to  Med- 
bury. 

' '  Go  forward  and  take  a  look, ' '  he  said. 

In  five  minutes  the  mate  came  back,  and 
went  up  the  main-rigging  to  the  crosstrees. 
When  he  descended,  he  came  aft. 

"  It's  getting  thick,"  he  said;  "  she  ought 
to  blow  her  whistle. ' ' 

"  Better  get  your  fog-horn  forward,"  said 
the  captain,  and  took  the  glasses  for  another 
look  as  Medbury  went  below.  A  moment  later 
the  mate  returned  to  the  deck  with  the  long 
box  of  the  patent  fog-horn,  and  presently  the 
dreary  wail  began  to  sound  at  intervals  from 
the  forecastle-deck.  Hetty  shivered  as  she 
heard  it. 

"  It  frightens  me!  "  she  murmured,  with  a 
little  catch  in  her  voice.  * '  It  frightens  me !  ' ' 

The  crew  were  at  the  rail  forward,  silent 
and  listening.  The  fog  had  blotted  out  the 
158 


UNDEB  ROCKING   SKIES 

fore  part  of  the  vessel,  but  the  forecastle  door 
was  open,  and  the  swinging  lamp  was  like  an 
orange  center  of  light  in  a  nebulous  haze. 
Once  a  sailor  passed  before  it,  and  his  shape 
loomed  black  and  huge  against  the  luminous 
interior.  At  short  intervals  the  fog-horn 
sounded  like  a  wailing  banshee  through  the 
darkness ;  but  there  was  no  answering  signal : 
only  at  long  intervals  came  that  strange, 
throbbing  beat,  like  an  uncanny  chuckle,  but 
seemingly  neither  nearer  nor  farther  away 
than  at  first.  Hardly  two  aboard  agreed  as 
to  its  direction,  for  the  opaque  walls  of  fog 
deflect  sound-waves  at  sea,  as  a  crystal  breaks 
a  ray  of  light. 

Back  on  the  quarter-deck  Medbury  was 
telling  a  curious  story. 

"  Two  years  ago,"  he  began  slowly,  with 
the  hesitation  of  a  man  who  feels  moved  to 
confidence  against  his  better  judgment,  "  we 
were  running  up  the  straits  to  Singapore, 
when  it  suddenly  came  on  thick.  We  were 
159 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

close-hauled  and  had  just  about  wind  enough 
for  steerageway,  and  we  had  the  fog-horn 
going  and  were  keeping  a  sharp  lookout,  for 
we  were  right  in  the  track  of  shipping,  and 
you  know  how  vessels  drift  together  in  a  fog, 
no  matter  which  way  they  were  heading  be 
fore  it  thickened  up.  Well,  we  hadn't  heard 
a  peep  all  day,  and  toward  night  it  seemed 
to  be  lifting  a  little,  when  I  heard  the  man 
at  the  wheel  give  a  little  cry,  and,  looking 
astern,  there,  not  a  cable's  length  away,  was 
a  dingy,  raveled-out,  full-rigged  Portuguese 
brig  slipping  right  across  our  wake.  They 
hadn't  made  a  sound,  and  they  didn't  even 
then,  though  our  old  man  got  black  in  the 
face  with  cursing  them  for  their  sins.  There 
was  a  black-whiskered  old  fellow,  with  his 
coat-collar  turned  up  about  his  ears,  at  the 
wheel ;  but  he  scarcely  looked  our  direction : 
only  once  he  wagged  his  beard  at  us,  and 
threw  one  arm  over  his  head  in  a  funny  way, 
and  then  squinted  aloft  again,  paying  no  more 
160 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

attention  to  us  than  if  we'd  been  so  much 
seaweed.  But  just  forward  the  fore-rigging 
there  was  a  row  of  sailormen  leaning  over 
the  rail,  and  their  eyes  followed  us  like  a 
lot  of  beady  birds '  eyes  till  the  fog  swallowed 
them  up  again.  Well,  the  day  after  we 
reached  Singapore  the  old  man  came  aboard 
in  a  brown  study.  He  said  he  'd  heard  ashore 
that  there 'd  been  a  lot  of  dirty  weather 
knocking  about  the  straits,  and  a  Portuguese 
brig  called  the  Villa  Real  was  forty  days  over 
due.  Well,  she  stayed  overdue,  and  not  a 
splinter  or  spun  -  yarn  of  her  ever  came 
ashore. ' '  He  paused  a  moment  to  relight  his 
pipe,  and  then  added:  "  On  the  stern  of  the 
Portuguese  brig  that  we  had  seen,  in  big 
white  letters  a  foot  high,  was  the  name  Villa 
Real." 

In  the  silence  that  followed  some  one  for 
ward  gave  a  low  laugh ;  in  the  fog  it  sounded 
strange  and  unnatural. 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  a  loon  cry  alongshore 
161 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

at  night?  "  asked  Medbury.  For  the  first 
time  on  the  voyage  he  had  become  actually 
loquacious.  "  I  used  to  hear  them  at  home 
when  I  was  a  boy.  It's  a  creepy  sound,  and 
makes  a  man  feel  lonesome  and  homesick." 
He  paused,  as  if  half-ashamed  of  the  con 
fession,  but  went  on,  with  a  boyish  chuckle: 
"  Somehow,  that  fellow's  laugh  made  me 
think  of  it,  though  I  can't  say  it  sounded  like 
a  loon,  either.  It's  queer  how  one  thing '11 
suggest  another  that  isn't  at  all  like  it." 

"  It  sounded  strange  to  me,  too,"  con 
fessed  Hetty. 

' '  Did  it  f  "  he  said,  turning  to  her.  ' '  Well, 
that's  funny." 

' '  Knocking  about  in  fog  and  storm,  without 
sleep,  a  sailor  gets  queer  notions  in  his  head 
at  times, ' '  said  Captain  March,  slowly.  * '  Now 
I  had  a  little  experience  once  that  seemed 
queer  at  the  time,  though  I  suppose  it  was 
natural  enough,  if  you  only  knew  how  to 
explain  it.  You  know  what  queer  shapes  will 
162 


UNDEB   ROCKING   SKIES 

sometimes  loom  up  at  night;  but  walk  right 
up  to  'em  and  you  find  it's  nothing  but  a 
stump  or  a  white  post  or  something.  Well, 
the  first  vessel  I  ever  had  was  the  schooner 
Sarah  J.  Mason.  I  was  pretty  young  at  the 
time,  and  I  guess  I  was  a  bit  nervous,  but  it 
does  seem  yet  as  if  that  first  voyage  as  master 
was  the  roughest  I've  ever  had.  I  had  char 
tered  for  Para,  and  we  struck  dirty  weather 
almost  from  the  first.  About  eight  days  out 
the  wind  came  out  ahead,  light  and  baffling, 
and  I  got  her  topsails  on  for  the  first  time. 
But  along  after  sundown  it  freshened  up 
again,  and  I  took  'em  in.  A  young  fellow 
from  up  the  State  somewhere  had  stowed  the 
maintopsail,  and  someway,  I  don't  know  how, 
—  I  guess  he  was  hurrying  and  a  little  care 
less  ;  it  was  his  watch  below,  —  he  slipped. 
For  years  after  that,  when  I  wasn't  feeling 
first-rate,  I  used  to  wake  up  with  a  start, 
thinking  I  heard  his  yell  again.  "Well,  it 
wasn't  very  rough,  and  we  got  a  boat  over, 
163 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

but  it  wasn't  any  use.  He  must  have  gone 
down  like  a  stone.  After  that  it  was  dirty 
weather,  with  scarcely  a  glimpse  of  the  sun, 
all  the  way  out.  I  was  upset  and  worn  out, 
I  guess;  but  one  night,  looking  aloft,  I  saw 
some  one  on  the  main-crosstrees.  There  was 
a  good-sized  moon,  though  the  sky  was  over 
cast,  but  light  enough  to  see  pretty  distinctly. 
1  Who's  that  aloft?  '  says  I  to  the  second 
mate.  He  didn't  answer  much  of  anything, 
but  walked  to  the  rail  and  looked  up.  *  Well, 
call  him  down,'  I  said  sharply,  and  he  went 
to  the  rigging,  and,  standing  on  the  rail, 
yelled:  'Who's  that  up  there?  '  Then  he 
went  half-way  up  and  stopped.  I  guess  he 
stood  there  five  minutes  before  he  came  down 
and  went  forward.  In  a  minute  he  came  back, 
looking  pretty  white.  '  Everybody  accounted 
for,  sir,'  he  said,  and  his  teeth  were  chatter 
ing  as  if  he  had  the  ague. 

' '  Now,  it  sounds  funny,  but  I  never  looked 
aloft  at  night  on  that  trip  without  wishing 
164 


UNDEK   ROCKING   SKIES 

I  didn't  have  to,  and  there  wasn't  a  sailor- 
man  aboard  who  could  have  been  driven  to 
go  up  to  that  masthead  after  dark  if  he  'd  been 
killed  for  refusing.  We  had  fair  weather 
coming  home,  and  we  carried  that  topsail  till 
we  blew  it  off  her  one  night.  I  was  plagued 
glad  to  see  it  go." 

"  Talking  about  explaining  things  if  you 
only  walk  right  up  to  them,"  said  Medbury 
—  "  now  there  're  some  things  you  can't  ex 
plain.  Take  the  old  Martha  Hunter,  for  in 
stance.  How  are  you  going  to  explain  her?  ' 
He  leaned  forward  and  addressed  his  talk 
to  Drew,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  Martha 
Hunter.  ' l  She  was  built  in  Blackwater  when 
I  was  a  boy,"  he  went  on,  "  and  before  her 
ribs  were  all  up  Jerry  Bartow  fell  from  the 
scaffolding  and  was  killed,  and  Tom  Martin 
nearly  cut  his  foot  off  with  an  adze  while  he 
was  trimming  a  stick  of  timber  that  went  into 
her.  It  went  in  with  the  stain  of  his  blood 
on  it,  and  it  wasn't  the  last  stain  of  the  kind 
165 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

that  she  carried  before  she  was  through.  Oh, 
she  was  greedy  for  that  sort  of  thing !  When 
she  was  launched  she  must  have  got  the  notion 
that  she  was  designed  to  dig  out  a  new  channel 
in  the  harbor,  for  she  fetched  bottom  and  car 
ried  away  her  rudder;  and  before  the  year 
was  out  she  came  off  the  Boston  mud-banks 
so  badly  hogged  that  she  looked  as  if  she'd 
got  her  sheer  on  upside  down.  It  wasn't  long 
before  a  sailorman  fell  from  aloft  and  was 
killed  on  her  deck ;  and  the  very  next  trip,  in 
warping  her  out  of  her  berth  in  Wareham, 
the  hawser  parted  and  broke  the  leg  of  the 
man  who  was  holding  turn  at  the  capstan. 
Cap'n  Silas  Hawkins  brought  her  home  to 
overhaul,  and  the  very  first  day  he  walked 
down  the  main  -  hatchway  and  was  killed. 
Why,  she  used  to  drag  ashore  in  any  sort  of  a 
white-ash  breeze ;  and  if  there  was  any  dirty 
weather  knocking  about,  she  always  managed 
to  run  her  nose  into  it,  and  would  come  limp 
ing  home  like  a  disreputable  old  girl  out  on  a 
166 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

lark.  You  could  have  filled  a  book  with  the 
stories  of  the  men  she  lost  or  maimed,  and 
the  trouble  she  got  into  first  and  last.  But 
she  was  fortunate  in  a  way,  too,  for  she  made 
money,  and  you  couldn't  lose  her.  I  guess 
she's  running  yet." 

"  I  saw  her  a  year  ago  last  fall,"  said  Cap 
tain  March.  "  I  haven't  heard  anything 
startling  about  her  since,  so  I  guess  she's 
going." 

*  *  Well, ' '  said  Medbury,  '  *  how  are  you  go 
ing  to  explain  her,  and  others  like  her?  I'm 
not  superstitious,  or  any  more  so  than  the 
common  run  of  folks;  but  things  like 
that  —  "  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
laughed,  then,  dropping  his  elbows  to  the  rail 
again,  turned  to  listen. 

For  a  long  time  they  had  not  noticed  the 
sound  that  puzzled  them,  and  now,  in  the 
silence,  they  remembered  it  again,  and 
strained  their  ears  to  catch  it  once  more.  The 
fog-horn  boomed  out  at  regular  intervals; 
167 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

only  the  noises  of  the  rolling  brig  were  also 
heard. 

While  they  still  stood  listening,  all  at  once 
Medbury  thought  he  felt  a  puff  of  wind.  Yet 
it  was  not  so  much  wind  as  it  was  a  suggestion 
of  wind:  it  seemed  to  him  that  a  hand,  wet 
and  cold,  had  been  thrust  close  to  his  face 
and  then  withdrawn.  He  could  not  explain 
the  chill  that  seemed  to  run  through  his 
frame.  Then  he  shook  off  the  feeling,  and 
turned  to  Captain  March. 

"  Did  you  feel  a  puff,  sir?  "  he  asked,  and 
held  his  finger  above  his  head. 

"  No,"  replied  the  captain.  "  If  we  get  a 
stir  of  air,  I'll  put  the  canvas  on  her.  I  don't 
want  to  slat  the  sails  all  to  pieces,  but  if  we 
get  enough  for  steerageway,  we'll  try  it.  I 
don't  like  loafing  about  in  a  fog  like  this  with 
my  hands  in  my  pockets." 

Then,  even  while  he  was  speaking,  out  of 
the  darkness  and  the  fog  and  the  subdued 
murmurs  of  the  ocean,  without  other  warn- 
168 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

ing  than  the  intangible  beat  that  had  mystified 
them,  a  long  roller  came  sweeping  in,  lifted 
them  in  its  mighty  arms,  slipped  past,  and 
dropped  them  with  a  shock  that  shook  the 
brig,  and  forced  a  cry  from  the  lips  of  every 
soul  aboard. 


169 


THE  group  on  the  quarter-deck  staggered 
together  in  a  huddled  bunch,  then  fell 
apart  as  Medbury  and  the  captain  slipped 
out  and  ran  forward.  Then  the  brig  rose  on 
another  swell,  and  came  up  bumping,  with  a 
snarling  sound  along  the  fore-chains. 

"  It's  some  barnacled  old  derelict,"  Med 
bury  turned  to  shout  to  the  captain,  who 
was  following  him  with  surprising  swiftness, 
but  with  short,  quick  strides,  like  a  waddling 
duck,  and  breathing  heavily.  Medbury  was 
on  the  rail,  peering  over  into  the  darkness, 
when  the  captain  reached  the  fore-rigging. 
A  group  of  sailors  huddled  about  the  rail. 

"  Here,  you,"  called  Captain  March,  "  get 
fenders  quick!  Bring  that  spare  royal-yard 
170 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

—  anything !  ' '  Then  he  lifted  himself  into 
the  rigging  by  Medbury 's  side.  The  next 
minute  he  was  calling  for  a  lantern  and  the 
flare. 

They  quickly  had  the  yard  and  some  planks 
lashed  over  the  side,  though  they  knew  that 
such  protections  were  almost  futile  in  the 
lift  of  the  swell  that  was  then  running. 
Under  the  light  of  the  flare,  gray  and  almost 
invisible  in  the  thick  night,  awash  at  one 
moment,  at  the  next  showing  a  jagged  line  of 
railless  stanchions,  they  saw  the  derelict 
lying  almost  parallel  with  them.  "With  the 
flare  in  his  hand,  Medbury  lowered  himself 
down  to  the  channel,  looking  for  the  place  of 
contact.  Forward  of  the  chains  the  side  of 
the  brig  was  badly  scraped,  and  a  part  of 
the  channel  was  splintered;  but  they  could 
see  no  other  injury. 

"  Lucky  she  didn't  come  under  us  when 
we  dropped,"  Medbury  said. 

"  She  may  yet,"  replied  the  captain.  He 
171 


UNDER  BOOKING   SKIES 

straightened  up,  and  held  his  hand  above  his 
head.  There  was  not  a  breath  of  air  stir 
ring.  He  turned  to  the  mate  again.  "  Get 
a  boat  over  the  side  quick,  Mr.  Medbury," 
he  said;  "  we've  got  to  pull  out  of  this." 

They  swung  the  boat  off  the  center-house, 
and  with  difficulty,  in  the  heavy  swell,  got 
her  over  the  side  and  away,  with  Medbury 
and  five  of  the  men  as  her  crew.  A  line  was 
paid  out  to  them,  and  run  through  a  forward 
chock  and  passed  about  the  capstan.  Stand 
ing  by  the  port  cathead,  Captain  March 
11  held  turn." 

"  Don't  know  what  may  happen,"  he  said 
aloud  to  himself.  "I'd  better  keep  a  hold 
o'  this  in  this  swell."  He  sent  a  man  up 
to  the  top  with  a  lantern,  and  the  second  mate 
to  the  wheel.  "  Straight  ahead,  now!  "  he 
roared  to  the  boat.  "  We  don't  want  to 
swing  her  counter  over  it.  Straight  ahead, 
now,  you!  " 

He  could  hear  the  thud  of  the  oars  in  the 
172 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

rowlocks  and  their  irregular  beat  on  the 
water,  for  rowing  in  the  swell  was  hard; 
but  he  could  hear,  too,  the  zip!  zip!  of  the 
line  as  it  tautened,  and  then  the  splash  as 
it  dropped  slack.  At  times  the  two  hulls 
came  together  with  a  jar,  but  with  no  great 
shock  after  the  first. 

Drew  had  come  forward,  and  once  he  asked 
the  captain  if  he  could  be  of  assistance. 
Captain  March  was  leaning  over  the  side, 
peering  into  the  darkness  for  the  derelict,  and 
had  not  answered.  When  he  turned  to  his 
line  again,  Drew  repeated  the  question. 

' '  No,  no ;  just  keep  out  of  the  way, ' '  re 
plied  the  captain,  with  the  impersonal  con 
tempt  of  the  sailor  for  the  landsman  afloat 
in  times  of  need. 

They  drew  ahead  but  slowly;  it  was  only 
by  inches  at  the  best,  and  there  were  times 
when  they  fell  behind  as  the  sweep  of  the 
sea  caught  them  and  rolled  them  from  side 
to  side  through  a  wide  arc.  Fortunately, 
173 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

they  were  to  the  leeward  of  the  wreck,  and 
what  advantage  there  was  in  their  greater 
buoyancy  and  height  above  the  sea  added  its 
little  to  the  feeble  efforts  of  the  crew  of  the 
boat.  Captain  March  could  hear  the  un 
steady  ding-donging  of  the  oars  in  the  row 
locks  as  Medbury  urged  them  on.  He  peered 
over  the  side  of  the  brig  with  straining  eyes. 

"  It  ain't  no  way  to  go  —  like  this,"  once 
he  said  aloud.  It  seemed  a  trivial  end,  with 
out  the  pomp  of  storm  and  the  exaltation 
that  comes  with  the  last  struggle  for  life. 
He  longed  for  the  struggle  for  himself,  he 
longed  for  it  for  his  vessel. 

At  la*st  there  came  a  time  when  he  could 
no  longer  see  the  derelict,  and  he  grew  restive 
under  the  uncertainty.  All  at  once  he  thought 
he  felt  a  breath  of  air  across  his  face.  He 
straightened  himself,  and  held  his  hand  up 
to  the  wind.  It  was  surely  a  puff,  and, 
quickly  making  the  line  fast,  he  hurried  aft 
to  take  the  wheel. 

174 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Get  your  staysails  on  her,"  he  told  the 
second  mate,  as  he  relieved  him.  "  Set  your 
maintopmast  staysail  first,  —  there  '11  be  a 
steadier  air  up  there,  —  then  get  your  fore- 
topmast  staysail  on  her."  He  turned  to 
Drew.  "  Just  bear  a  hand  there,  will  you?  " 
he  said  to  him. 

He  heard  the  staysail  run  up  and  the  cry 
of  the  second  mate  to  belay;  then  he  heard 
them  sheeting  it  home. 

'  *  Not  too  flat,  Mr.  Barrett !  Not  too  flat !  " 
he  called.  "  Give  her  an  easy  sheet,  so  she'll 
lift  a  little.  Now  up  with  the  others !  ' : 

He  saw  Hetty's  face  at  the  companionway, 
and  glanced  at  her  with  half-averted  eyes. 
She  was  a  true  sailor's  daughter,  he  thought 
with  pride.  He  did  not  object  to  her  pres 
ence,  for  she  never  worried  folks  with  ques 
tions.  Then  he  called  to  her : 

"  It's  all  right,  my  girl.  Don't  you  worry. 
Just  tell  your  mother  it's  all  right." 

He  heard  the  staysails  flap  from  time  to 
175 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

time,  and  so  began  to  whistle  for  a  wind. 
"  Deuce  take  it!  "  he  muttered,  "  why  don't 
it  blow?  "  Every  moment  or  two  he  stepped 
to  the  rail  and  peered  into  the  darkness  to 
note  his  progress.  They  had  slowly  drifted 
away  from  the  wreck,  the  stern  of  which  now 
lay  opposite  the  quarter-deck  of  the  brig. 
The  second  mate  came  running  aft. 

"  Shall  we  brace  the  yards  around,  and 
try  to  get  what  canvas  we  can  on  her,  sir?  " 
he  asked. 

Captain  March  shook  his  head. 

"No,"  he  answered;  "  you  couldn't  do 
much,  short-handed  as  you  are.  Maybe  we'd 
just  lose  control  of  her.  But  you  go  forward 
and  call  to  Mr.  Medbury  to  keep  a-going  — 
keep  a-going." 

It  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the 
derelict's  stern  was  clearly  past  the  brig's. 
Slowly  the  house  crept  past  —  a  high  house, 
Captain  March  could  now  see  plainly,  and 
painted  white.  "  Some  foreigner,"  he 
176 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

thought  with  scorn,  "  scared  to  his  boats 
before  he  was  hurt."  He  felt  all  the  con 
tempt  of  his  race  and  kind  for  timid  unsea- 
faring  peoples. 

Once  when  the  wreck  sank  deeply  in  the 
hollow  of  the  sea,  and  the  swell  broke  over 
her,  she  came  up  sputtering,  and  Captain 
March  heard  the  water  gushing  from  some 
opening  with  the  rhythmic  chug-chug  of 
water  gurgling  from  a  bottle. 

"  That's  what  we  heard,"  he  said  aloud. 
It  sounded  uncanny  even  now.  "  I  guess  it's 
a  water-butt  that's  shifted  over  on  its  side 
and  the  sea  washes  full, ' '  he  thought.  ' '  Well, 
it's  creepy  enough." 

Suddenly  he  gave  a  start,  for  from  the 
wreck  came  the  faint,  unmistakable  crying  of 
a  cat.  He  walked  to  the  rail  and  listened, 
muttering  to  himself:  "  The  scoundrels,  to 
leave  her  behind !  ' '  He  stood  by  the  rail  for 
a  moment,  and  presently  called:  "  Kitty! 
kitty!  poor  kitty!  "  Then  he  went  back  to 
177 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

the  wheel  again,  whistling  loudly  for  a  wind, 
that  he  might  not  hear  the  plaintive  response 
to  his  call. 

For  a  time  the  situation  had  worn  for 
Hetty  a  certain  pleasurable  aspect  of  ro 
mance;  but  in  the  dragging  moments  that 
followed  the  sending  away  of  the  boat,  her 
nerves  grew  tense  under  the  strain,  and 
seemed  to  present,  as  it  were,  sharp  edges 
to  the  irritating  suspense.  The  low-riding 
wreck,  awash  at  one  moment,  at  the  next 
looming  threateningly  above  them,  showing 
its  jagged  outlines  uncertainly  through  the 
enlarging  fog,  took  on  an  aspect  wholly  sin 
ister.  With  only  the  desire  to  get  beyond 
sight  of  it,  she  crossed  to  the  starboard  main- 
rigging,  and  gazed  steadily  out  across  the 
vaporous  expanse  of  the  windless  sea. 

Her  resolute  refusal  to  watch  the  derelict 

• 

took  on,  in  her  mind,  something  of  the  char 
acter  of  a  senseless  game  with  her  fear :  she 
told  herself  that  she  would  count  two  hundred 

178 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

before  she  looked  to  see  if  it  were  farther 
away,  then  five  hundred;  after  that  she  re 
solved  not  to  look  until  she  heard  a  footstep 
or  a  voice.  The  latter  task,  unrelieved  by 
the  mechanically  mental  exertion  of  the  whis 
pered  numbers,  became  speedily  unbearable, 
and  she  began  to  count  again.  Presently  a 
step  sounded  on  the  deck  near  her.  In  the 
tension  of  the  moment  she  looked  up,  danger 
ously  near  to  hysteria. 

It  was,  of  course,  Drew,  the  only  idle  man 
aboard. 

"  We  have  passed  it,"  he  said  gaily. 

Her  hand  was  resting  against  the  rigging, 
and  now,  as  he  spoke,  in  a  revulsion  of  feel 
ing  she  laid  her  forehead  against  it  and 
laughed. 

' '  You  poor  child !  "  he  murmured. 

At  that  she  lifted  her  head  quickly  and 
said: 

"  The  whole  night  has  been  so  unreal  — 
that  strange  sound,  the  fog,  our  ghost  talk, 
179 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

and  this  danger —  "  She  looked  past  him 
in  a  strange  mental  relaxation,  feeling  the 
inadequacy  of  words  to  convey  her  immeas 
urable  relief. 

"  It  has  been  hard  for  you,"  he  said 
gently.  "  I  thought  of  you,  and  wished  that 
I  might  help  you,  but  I'm  a  helpless  creature 
here."  He  smiled. 

No  one  else  had  come  near  her  or  thought 
of  her,  she  told  herself  unreasonably;  and 
now  she  turned  upon  him  the  frank,  open  look 
of  a  child. 

"  You  do  help  me,"  she  said. 

Alone  in  that  strange  calm,  but  barely  es 
caped  from  a  grave  danger,  they  looked  at 
each  other  for  a  moment  through  the  distort 
ing  glass  of  their  common  isolation.  Sud 
denly  he  moved  toward  her. 

"  Then  may  it  not  be  for  always?  "  he 
whispered.  He  could  gather  no  other  mean 
ing  from  Medbury's  speech  at  sunset  than 
that  he  had  given  up  all  hope.  He  himself 
180 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

was  free  to  speak  at  last.    Yet  he  must  have 
spoken  in  any  case. 

She  gave  a  little  backward  spring,  and  laid 
hold  of  the  shrouds  with  a  hand  that  trem 
bled. 

"  Not  that!  "  she  gasped.  "  Oh,  I  didn't 
mean  that!  " 

"  But  I  mean  it,"  he  urged.  "  Try  to 
think  of  it  favorably.  You  know  the  work 
I  desire:  let  us  work  together.  Life  would 
mean  so  much  to  me  with  you  near!  And 
for  you  —  it  would  be  in  the  path  of  your 
own  desires,  to  work  among  the  poor." 

For  a  moment  it  seemed  like  an  open  door 
to  her  hopes. 

"  I  had  thought  of  your  work  since  you 
spoke  of  it, ' '  she  said  in  a  low  voice ;  '  *  and 
I  wondered  if  they  would  let  me  try  that 
—  alone,  of  course,  I  mean, ' '  she  added  with 
pretty  confusion.  "  I  should  like  to  do  some 
good  in  the  world.  I  seem  so  useless  now. 
It  gave  me  a  new  hope." 
181 


t  i 


And  I,"  he  urged  —  "do  not  put  me 
apart  from  it !  ' ;  4 

She  had  put  him  apart  from  it,  she  thought. 
She  laid  her  hand  upon  the  shrouds  and 
dropped  her  face  to  it  for  a  moment. 

* '  Oh,  I  cannot  tell !  ' '  she  whispered. 

"  Do  not  try  to  tell  now,"  he  said. 
"Wait!  It—" 

Then  sharply  across  their  absorption  they 
heard  her  father  calling  to  the  second  mate 
to  order  in  the  boat.  Without  a  word,  she 
slipped  aft. 

As  the  boat  drew  near,  Captain  March  went 
to  the  rail. 

"  They've  left  a  cat  aboard,"  he  called  to 
Medbury.  "  She's  forward.  I  shouldn't  like 
to  leave  even  a  cat  like  that. ' '  Then  he  added, 
as  if  to  show  that  his  humanity  was  dictated 
more  by  reason  than  by  sentiment, ' '  It  seems 
unlucky  —  as  if  we'd  left  her." 

"  All  right,  sir,"  Medbury  replied;  "I'll 
get  her." 

182 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Well,  don't  get  stove.  Just  as  soon  as 
you  come  aboard,  we'll  make  sail.  There's 
a  little  air  stirring." 

As  the  boat  swung  away  behind  them,  the 
captain  told  the  second  mate  to  rig  and  sound 
the  pumps.  The  brig  was  unusually  tight, 
and  it  was  with  no  uneasiness  that  he  gave 
the  order,  which  he  considered  merely  per 
functory. 

The  first  half-dozen  strokes  told  a  different 
tale.  He  was  stooping  to  grip  the  spokes  of 
the  wheel  when  the  first  rush  of  water 
sounded  on  the  deck,  and  its  fullness  stopped 
him  like  a  blow  in  the  face.  Instantly  he  blew 
his  whistle  over  the  stern,  and  called  to  Med- 
bury  to  come  aboard  at  once.  He  heard 
Medbury's  "  Aye,  aye,  sir,"  and  called  to  the 
second  mate  for  a  lantern.  It  was  already  on 
the  quarter-deck  when  the  boat  swung  out  of 
the  darkness  in  under  the  stern. 

"  We  got  her,"  Medbury  called  out,  but 
Captain  March  made  no  reply.  He  swung 
183 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

the  lantern  down  toward  the  boat  by  a  lan 
yard. 

"  Find  where  we  struck,"  he  said,  and, 
giving  the  wheel  to  the  second  mate,  hurried 
forward. 

He  was  standing  on  the  fore-channel  when 
Medbury  brought  the  boat  up,  and,  going  as 
near  as  he  dared,  held  the  lantern  over  the 
side. 

"  There!  "  cried  Medbury  as  the  light  of 
the  lantern  flashed  over  the  scarred  and 
abraded  spots  that  they  had  already  noted; 
but  Captain  March  shook  his  head  impa 
tiently. 

11  No,"  he  said  curtly;  "  lower  down. 
Watch  when  she  rises." 

The  lantern  shed  a  wan  light  upon  the 
oily  sea  and  the  glistening  black  hull.  Five 
times  the  brig  rose  and  fell  on  the  easy  roll 
ers;  then  she  leaped  to  a  great  height,  and 
for  an  instant,  below  the  bilge,  they  caught 
sight  of  a  jagged  stretch  of  copper,  torn,  and 
184 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

shrunken  like  a  withered  apple.  One  glance 
showed  that  nothing  could  be  done. 

They  had  the  boat  over  the  side  again  in 
an  incredibly  short  time.  As  he  was  rigging 
the  fall  to  hoist  her  to  her  old  place  on  the 
center-house,  Medbury  hesitated,  and  then 
hurried  aft. 

"  Shall  I  lash  the  boat  on  deck,  sir?  " 
he  asked,  adding  significantly:  "  We  may 
need  it." 

1 '  No,  sir, ' '  replied  the  captain ; ' '  hoist  it  to 
its  place.  I  don't  make  preparations  to  aban 
don  my  ship  till  I've  done  something  to  save 
her.  Besides,  I  want  the  boat  in  the  safest 
place  if  I've  got  to  use  it,  after  all.  But  I'm 
not  thinking  of  that  yet. ' ' 

It  was  not  long  before  the  wind  was  coming 
out  of  the  northeast  in  quicker  and  stronger 
puffs,  and,  under  every  thread  of  canvas,  they 
began  to  forge  ahead  to  the  dismal  clank  of 
the  pumps.  There  was  no  question  of  break 
ing  out  the  cargo,  and  trying  to  patch  the 
185 


UNDEE   BOOKING   SKIES 

leak  from  the  inside.    It  was  to  be  a  rush 
for  port,  to  the  music  of  the  pump-brakes. 

Medbury  and  Drew  were  standing  by  the 
port  rail  at  four  bells  when  Captain  March 
came  on  deck  from  a  study  of  his  chart.  He 
glanced  aloft,  looked  to  windward,  then  at  his 
binnacle. 

11  Ease  the  sheets  a  little,  Mr.  Medbury," 
he  said, ' '  and  keep  her  off  half  a  point. ' '  He 
gave  the  course,  then  added:  "  Change  the 
men  at  the  pumps  every  hour;  we'll  all  have 
to  take  a  hand  at  it  before  it's  over.  The 
wind's  freshening  fast,  and  that's  our  chance. 
We've  got  to  carry  everything  to-night.  Call 
me  in  an  hour." 

He  was  going  down  the  companionway 
when  Medbury  called  to  him. 

"  That  vessel  was  burned,  sir,"  he  said. 
He  held  up  his  hands,  blackened  with  the 
charred  wood. 

"  You  don't  say!  "  exclaimed  the  captain. 
"  How  did  that  cat  happen  to  escape?  " 
180 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Somehow  she  got  forward,  and  the  fire 
spread  aft.  It  was  the  only  spot  untouched 
—  the  forecastle-deck. ' ' 

"  What  did  you  do  with  her?  "  asked  the 
captain.  "  I  forgot  all  about  her." 

"  Oh,  I  gave  her  to  the  steward;  she  was 
half  -starved. " 

"  All  right,"  said  the  captain;  "  all  right." 
Then  he  went  below.  It  was  the  last  bit  of 
sleep  he  was  to  get  for  many  an  hour. 

With  started  sheets  and  a  freshening 
breeze,  the  brig  began  the  song  of  the  road. 
The  laced  foam  went  hissing  past  her  sides, 
flecked  here  and  there  with  spots  of  phos 
phorescent  light ;  under  her  fore-foot  was  the 
growl  of  the  heaped-up,  rolling  wave;  now 
and  then  the  shock  of  a  higher  sea,  thrown 
back  from  her  bows  in  a  smother  of  spray, 
shook  her  from  stem  to  stern.  The  fog  had 
gone  with  the  coming  of  wind,  but  the  rack, 
like  a  flock  of  birds,  swept  by  overhead.  The 
wind  began  to  sigh  and  whine  in  the  rigging ; 
187 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

with  a  tremulous,  muffled  roar  the  canvas 
strained  and  thundered:  but  through  every 
other  noise,  insistent,  penetrating,  sounded 
the  steady  thump  of  the  pumps  and  the  rush 
of  water  from  the  spouts. 

Once  Medbury  came  aft  after  changing  the 
men  at  the  pumps,  and  stopped  at  the  corner 
of  the  house  to  look  aloft;  he  had  felt  the 
deck  swinging  wide  under  his  feet. 

"  Steady,  man!  steady!  "  he  called  to  the 
man  at  the  wheel.  "  Don't  let  her  yaw!  ' 

He  watched  the  sails  for  a  moment,  turn 
ing  at  last  with  a  sigh  of  satisfaction  to  Drew, 
who  was  standing  near. 

"  She's  picking  up  her  skirts  like  a  little 
lady, "  he  said.  His  tone  was  almost  exultant. 

"  It's  good  to  feel  the  rush  of  movement 
again,"  said  Drew;  "  but  I'm  a  little  bewil 
dered  yet,  it  has  come  and  gone  so  quickly  — 
this  strange  experience." 

11  That's  the  way  with  things  at  sea,"  re 
plied  Medbury.  "  We're  always  expecting 
188 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

things  to  happen,  and  surprised  when  they 
come.  But  I  don't  know  as  it's  much  differ 
ent  with  life  in  general,"  he  added  gloomily. 
"  Trust  in  nothing  —  that's  the  only  way  to 
escape  being  disappointed.  Trust  in  nothing, 
and  be  prepared  for  the  worst." 


189 


XI 


A  SLIM  shape  came  softly  up  out  of  the 
companion-way,  and,  closing  the  door, 
paused  uncertainly.     Facing  the  wind,  the 
girl  thrust  back  her  blowing  hair,  and  looked 
about  her. 

'  *  I  thought  my  father  was  here, ' '  she  mur 
mured,  not  knowing  whether  to  go  or  stay. 

"  He's  below,"  Medbury  told  her. 

"  I  thought  he  was  here,"  she  repeated. 
She  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  turned 
suddenly  to  Medbury. 

"  Where  are  we  going?  "  she  asked  him. 

"  Better  ask  your  father  that,"  he  replied. 
"  He  only  gave  me  the  course." 

"  I  did  ask  him.    He  said  he  believed  we 
were  chartered  for  Santa  Cruz." 
190 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

' i  Then  that 's  where  we  're  going, ' '  he  said 
promptly. 

"  I  can't  realize  yet  what  has  happened," 
she  went  on ;  "it  was  so  calm  and  peaceful. 
It  seems  the  strangest  thing." 

"  Oh,  this  sort  of  thing's  been  done  be 
fore,"  replied  Medbury.  "  They  can't  accuse 
us  of  inventing  any  new  kind  of  foolishness ; 
so  don't  you  go  to  feeling  proud  because  you 
think  you've  found  something  strange.  When 
you  get  out  to  Santa  Cruz  all  the  old  captains 
in  port  will  drop  aboard  and  spin  yarns  about 
what's  happened  to  them,  till  you'll  think  this 
is  the  commonest  thing  in  the  world. ' ' 

"  You're  trying  to  make  me  feel  safe,"  she 
declared;  "  that  frightens  me  all  the  more. 
You  take  too  much  pains  to  assure  me.  Tell 
me  truly:  have  you  ever  been  in  greater 
danger?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  answered;  "  many  a  time,  and 
only  last  winter,  for  once.  For  five  minutes, 
one  night,  I  thought  of  more  things  in  my 
191 


UNDEE   EOCKING   SKIES 

life  than  I'd  done  for  twenty  years.  I  haven't 
done  that  yet,  to-night.  I  never  thought  to 
walk  the  streets  of  Blackwater  again." 

Hetty  tried  to  think  how  it  would  seem 
to  feel  that  she,  too,  would  not  walk  the 
streets  of  Blackwater  again.  In  two  months, 
she  remembered,  the  cherry-trees  would  be  in 
bloom  there;  she  could  see  them  whitening 
the  whole  village.  She  looked  at  him  and 
smiled. 

11  Did  you  think  of  it  in  cherry-time,  with 
all  the  streets  and  dooryards  white  with 
blossoms?  "  she  asked  idly,  with  a  vague 
notion  of  distracting  her  thoughts  from  the 
present  hour. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  quietly;  "  and  of 
other  white  things  —  of  drawing  my  sled 
home  from  school  through  the  drifts,  and 
glad  to  be  alive." 

She  caught  her  breath  and  turned  her  face 
away.  She  was  beginning  to  understand,  she 
told  herself,  what  it  was  to  be  a  sailor,  and 
192 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

face  danger  year  after  year,  living  one's  life 
mainly  in  dreams,  with  only  far-off  memories 
to  feed  upon.  Her  eyes  filled  with  tears. 
Finally  she  turned  to  him  again  with  a  little 
smile. 

"I'm  beginning  to  know  what  it  is  to  be 
a  sailor,"  she  said. 

The  clock  in  the  cabin  struck,  and  the  bell 
forward  repeated  the  four  sharp  strokes.  A 
man  came  aft  to  relieve  the  wheel.  A  moment 
later  Captain  March  appeared  on  deck,  and 
walked  over  to  his  daughter's  side. 

"  Heh!  young  lady,"  he  said,  "  I  thought 
I  told  you  to  turn  in. ' ' 

' '  I  'm  going  to  stay  with  you  a  while, ' '  she 
answered,  and  took  his  arm. 

"  Cap'n,"  said  Medbury,  "  hadn't  you  bet 
ter  keep  your  watch  below?  I'll  change  the 
men  at  the  pumps  and  take  a  spell  at  the 
wheel  myself.  We  don't  need  you  now." 

"  No,"  replied  the  captain;  "  my  place  is 
on  deck  to-night." 

193 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

They  stood  in  silence  a  long  time,  listen 
ing  to  the  sounds  of  the  night,  and  having 
no  inclination  to  speech.  Suddenly,  above 
the  roar  of  the  wind,  they  heard  the  voice 
of  the  lookout  crying  from  the  forecastle- 
deck: 

' '  Light  ahead  on  the  port  bow !  Light 
ahead!  White  light!  " 

Captain  March  sprang  to  the  wheel  and 
jammed  the  helm  hard  up;  Medbury  ran 
forward.  He  had  scarcely  reached  the  fore 
castle-deck  when  the  light  came  abreast,  a 
cable's  length  away.  All  at  once  it  began 
to  swing  in  a  short,  quick  arc,  and  the  people 
on  the  brig  heard  the  cry  of  voices.  It  swept 
past  them  like  a  banshee,  with  the  light 
swinging  frantically,  and  the  sound  of  oars 
chopping  the  sea  in  short,  irregular  strokes. 
The  next  moment  the  brig  came  up  into  the 
wind  with  rattling  blocks  and  slapping  can 
vas,  and  Captain  March  was  roaring  orders 
in  a  mighty  voice,  while  the  watch  below 
194 


There  came  a  '  smooth,'  and  the  boat  shot  in. 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

streamed  out  upon  the  deck  like  a  hive  of 
frightened  bees. 

They  lay  with  sails  shaking  and  a  flare 
burning  over  the  quarter,  and  listened  for  the 
sound  of  oars  again,  with  the  brig  rolling 
and  thrashing  under  them.  They  heard  it  at 
last,  and  a  voice  urging  the  rowers  on;  and 
soon  a  boat  came  out  of  the  blackness  of  the 
night,  reeling  crazily  over  the  seas. 

Medbury  stood  on  the  rail,  with  the  crew 
clustered  behind  him,  as  the  boat  swung  in. 

"  Steady!  "  he  sang  out.  "  Steady  there, 
or  you'll  swamp  her!  Hold  off,  and  watch 
your  chance!  " 

There  came  a  ' '  smooth, ' '  and  the  boat  shot 
in,  and  a  black  little  figure  leaped  .upon  a 
thwart,  and,  steadied  by  two  men,  was  swung 
up  over  the  rail  and  to  the  deck  by  Medbury 
almost  before  he  realized  that  it  was  a 
woman. 

As  her  feet  struck  the  deck,  she  turned  with 
a  little  laugh. 

197 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Mon  Dieu!  "  she  cried,  "  eet  iss  betteh 
—  dees."  She  watched  the  others  coming 
over  the  rail,  and,  when  all  were  safe, 
turned  to  Medbury  with  a  little  courtesy. 
"Eet  iss  ver'  romanteec  tow  be  safed  from 
doze  salt  wateh  by  so  nize  young  gentleman, ' ' 
she  murmured,  with  a  gleeful  face.  "  Yo' 
happen  tow  be  a  mah'ied  man,  maybe  ?  " 

"  No,  ma'am,"  Medbury  answered  soberly. 

She  laughed  in  his  face. 

"  Yo'  sad  faw  das,  maybe?  "  she  asked 
mischievously. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  answered,  laughingly  recov 
ering  himself. 

11  Das  iss  mo'  betteh,"  she  said  demurely, 
and  turned  to  Hetty. 

Taking  both  her  hands  in  her  own,  she 
kissed  her  impulsively. 

* '  Ah  ahm  mo '  gladdeh  faw  tow  see  yo '  naw 
ahnybody,"  she  said.    "  Ah  see  nut 'ing  but 
doze  mens  all  tarn.     Ah  t'ink  Ah  go  git 
crezzy,"  she  added  laughingly. 
198 


UNDER   BOOKING    SKIES 

They  got  the  brig  on  her  course  again,  and 
took  the  captain  of  the  boat  and  his  two 
passengers  down  into  the  cabin.  The  captain 
said  his  vessel  was  a  Danish  bark  from  Co 
penhagen,  bound  for  Santa  Cruz,  and  she  had 
been  burned  two  days  before.  They  had 
taken  to  their  boats,  but,  as  there  was  no 
wind,  they  had  lingered  near,  in  the  hope  that 
the  smoke  from  the  burning  vessel  would  be 
a  beacon  for  some  rescuer.  But  no  vessel 
had  been  sighted,  and  before  night  came  on 
they  had  started  on  their  long  road.  Their 
other  boat  had  been  lost  in  the  fog. 

The  captain  had  told  his  story  in  fair  Eng 
lish,  and  at  its  close  he  turned  to  his  passen 
gers,  and  said  they  were  going  home  to  Santa 
Cruz,  where  the  young  man,  a  lieutenant  in 
the  army,  was  stationed.  His  sister,  Miss 
Stromberg,  he  added,  lived  with  her  brother. 
As  he  mentioned  their  names,  he  bowed.  Both 
rose,  and,  passing  gravely  around  the  group, 
shook  hands  with  all.  They  were  much  alike 
199 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

— small,  dark-haired,  with  handsome,  piquant 
faces.    Life  seemed  a  huge  joke  to  both. 

As  they  seated  themselves  again,  the  girl 
looked  about  her  and  smiled. 

11  Ah  t'ink  dis  iss  mo'  nizeh  naw  das  liddy 
boat,"  she  said. 

"  Mooch  mo'  nizeh,"  her  brother  agreed. 
He  smiled,  and  bowed  to  the  collected  com 
pany,  beginning  with  Hetty  and  ending  with 
her. 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  Captain  March;  then 
he  turned  to  the  Danish  captain  and  added: 
"I'm  glad  to  get  your  men;  I've  already 
found  your  vessel." 

When  he  had  finished  the  story  of  his  own 
misfortune,  he  went  up  on  deck,  followed  by 
the  two  rescued  men. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Mrs.  March  to  the  girl, 
"  you  must  be  tired  out.  Now  you  must  have 
something  to  eat  and  then  go  straight  to 
bed.  My  daughter  can  easily  take  you  in 
her  room." 

200 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

The  girl  laughed,  and,  leaning  forward, 
placed  her  hand  on  the  speaker's  knee. 

"  Ah  t'ink  das  iss  mos'  kind,  lak  ma  own 
modder.  Das  iss  ve'y  nize.  How  s'all  Ah 
say  no  at  so  kind  heahf?  Ah  t'ink  Ah  ahm 
'mos'  t'ousand  year'  old,  and  'mos'  aslip  — 
me:"  Her  shoulders  drooped;  her  eyes 
closed.  "  And  das  iss  ve'y  impolite  wiz  so 
kind,  good  peop ' !  "  Her  eyes  opened  again, 
and  begged  forgiveness  for  the  discourtesy. 

"  Nonsense,  child!  "  said  Mrs.  March.  "  I 
should  think  you'd  be  half  dead.  I  only  hope 
you  won't  find  worse  trouble  here;  though 
I  must  say  we  deserve  all  we  get  for  trusting 
ourselves  on  the  water  —  we  women. ' ' 

"  Yo'  lak  not  doze  wateh?  "  Miss  Strom- 
berg  asked. 

"  Like  it!  "  said  Mrs.  March.  "I'm  afraid 
every  minute." 

"  Ah!  "    she   murmured   piteously.     Her 
eyes   caught  Drew's  look,   and  she   smiled. 
"  Yo'  lak  eet,  maybe?  "  she  asked  him. 
201 


UNDER  BOOKING  SKIES 

"  Yes,"  he  answered;  "or  at  least  until 
to-night.  But  I  do  not  know  it  well." 

"  NoT  "  she  said. 

"  Mr.  Drew  is  a  minister  of  the  gospel," 
explained  Mrs.  March,  with  dignity ;  then  she 
added  with  smiling  derision:  "  He  thinks 
he's  taking  a  pleasure  trip." 

' l  Ah ! "  —  Miss  Stromberg  flashed  a  bright 
smile  upon  Drew  —  "  das  iss  ve'y  nize  tow 
be  a  mineester  —  tow  be  so  good  as  tow  prich 
tow  peop*.  Ma  fader  one  also  wass;  but 
me —  "  she  shrugged  her  shoulders  —  "  Ah 
find  das  ve'y  hahd  tow  be  so  good  all  da  tarn. 
Eet  iss  ve'y  sad  not  tow  tek  doze  examp'  off 
ma  fader."  She  sighed. 

Her  brother  and  Captain  Band  joined  her 
at  supper,  and  brother  and  sister  were  very 
gay;  but  the  captain  ate  hurriedly,  and 
speedily  returned  to  the  deck.  Lieutenant 
Stromberg  soon  followed  him,  but  Drew  lin 
gered.  Miss  Stromberg  had  been  telling  her 
experiences  in  the  wreck. 
202 


UNDEE  ROCKING   SKIES 

"  And  you  were  not  frightened?  "  he  asked 
her. 

"  Mos'  exceeding',"  she  answered  gaily. 

"  Your  brother  says  you  were  very  brave," 
he  told  her,  smilingly. 

"He!"  she  exclaimed,  with  gay  scorn. 
"  He  knows  not.  Eet  iss  woman's  paht  tow 
deceife  efer.  Yo'  learn  so  not  alrettyf  "  She 
laughed  in  his  face. 

* '  Ah,  I  have  much  to  learn !  "  he  answered, 
with  a  smile. 

"  Eet  iss  so,"  she  agreed;  "  doze  theo- 
logic  school  tich  not  eferVing." 

"  Now  I  shall  be  on  my  guard,"  he  an 
swered,  and,  going  up  the  companionway, 
laughingly  bade  her  good  night. 

"  On  gnahd !  T:  Her  scoffing  voice  followed 
him.  "  Das  iss  doze  mos*  worse  tarn." 

Smilingly  he  walked  to  the  rail,  and,  lean 
ing  his  elbows  on  it,  looked  out  into  the  night. 
Medbury,  walking  the  deck,  stopped  at  his 
side. 

203 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Jolly  little  bit  of  flotsam  we  picked  up," 
he  said. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Drew;  "  she  is  charm 
ing." 

"  Well,  she's  a  little  flirt,"  said  Medbury. 
"  Did  you  hear  what  she  said  to  me  when 
she  came  aboard?  It  took  away  my  breath 
for  a  minute."  He  laughed. 

"  She's  audacious,"  said  Drew;  "  but  I 
think  that's  all.  I  should  rather  say  she  is 
bent  on  amusing  herself.  I  should  call  her 
remarkably  sincere." 

"  Well,  she's  remarkably  pretty,"  replied 
Medbury.  '  *  And  what,  a  voice !  She  makes 
that  lingo  of  hers  sound  like  a  pretty  little 
piece  of  music.  I  hope  we  '11  not  have  to  make 
her  take  to  the  boat  again. ' ' 

Until  then  Drew  had  hardly  thought  of  the 
wind.  Now  it  seemed  like  the  pressure  of  a 
hand  against  his  face.  The  darkness  of  the 
night  was  relieved  by  a  luminous  haze  close 
down  to  the  sea,  which  seemed  to  radiate  a 
204 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

mysterious  light  that  was  like  an  opaque 
spray.  The  stars  were  gone,  and  the  wind 
no  longer  came  in  gusts,  but  in  a  great  rush 
of  sound  that  overbore  speech  like  the  beat 
of  a  corps  of  drums,  near  and  threatening. 
Every  strand  of  rigging  twanged  in  the 
sweep  of  the  gale;  the  canvas  hummed  with 
a  muffled  roar;  now  and  then  a  wave  broke 
amidships  with  a  sudden  shock,  and  ran  hiss 
ing  across  the  deck. 

Medbury  had  gone  forward  to  the  pumps, 
which  stopped  suddenly,  and  Drew  felt  his 
way  along  the  house  to  the  break  in  the  deck. 
A  group  stood  about  the  well  with  a  lantern, 
and  Medbury  was  bending  over  it.  "  Slack 
three  feet  and  a  half,"  he  said,  straightening 
up.  Captain  March  turned  away  without  a 
word,  and  walked  aft ;  but  Drew  stayed  to  see 
the  pumps  rigged  again  and  their  wearying 
thump  begin  once  more,  with  four  men  'at 
the  bars.  As  Medbury  passed  him,  Drew 
asked  him  what  it  was. 
205 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Three  and  a  half  feet,"  he  said,  and 
hurried  past. 

Then  Drew  at  last  understood  that  there 
was  that  depth  of  water  in  the  hold. 

It  came  on  to  rain  later,  at  first  a  few 
small  drops  out  of  the  black  sky,  and  then  a 
driving  sheet  that  seemed  to  sweep  straight 
on  and  never  to  fall.  One  by  one  the  passen 
gers  disappeared,  and  Captain  March  and 
Medbury,  in  oilskins,  held  the  quarter-deck 
with  the  man  at  the  wheel.  Back  and  forth 
across  the  deck  the  captain  walked,  now 
climbing  to  windward,  with  his  body  bent  for 
ward  and  his  legs  far  apart,  now  braced  back, 
and  taking  short  steps  down  the  wet  incline, 
and  sometimes  breaking  into  a  little  run  and 
checking  himself  at  the  rail.  Medbury  stood 
for  the  most  part  at  the  windward  corner  of 
the  house,  going  forward  from  time  to  time, 
but  never  for  long.  They  rarely  spoke. 

Once  Medbury  went  to  the  binnacle  for  a 
moment. 

206 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

'  *  Steady,  man !  steady ! "  he  said.  * l  You  're 
yawing  over  half  the  card." 

"  Steady,  sir,"  the  sailor  replied  in  an 
emotionless  voice. 

Captain  March  stopped  his  walk  at  the 
wheel,  and  looked  aloft. 

"  Steer  hard?  "  he  asked  good-naturedly. 
He  had  shouted,  for  the  uproar  was  now  too 
great  for  ordinary  speech. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  the  man  replied,  and  bent  to 
the  spokes. 

"  Guess  I'll  take  a  hold  with  you,"  shouted 
the  captain,  and  stepped  to  his  side;  but 
Medbury  touched  his  arm. 

"  I'll  take  it,"  he  said;  but  the  captain 
shook  his  head. 

"  No,"  he  answered;  "  I'll  try  it  a  spell." 

Medbury  cast  an  uneasy  look  aloft  at  the 
maintopsail.  In  the  murky  light  he  could  see 
it  bellied  out  like  a  great  bowl. 

"  It's  that  topsail  makes  her  steer  hard," 
he  cried  in  an  aggrieved  tone. 
207 


UNDEB   BOOKING   SKIES 

Captain  March  did  not  glance  up. 

"  Yes,"  he  shouted;  "but  I  guess  it's 
drawing  some." 

Medbury  looked  at  him  sharply,  and  then 
turned  away,  grinning. 

"  Well,  I  guess  it  is  !  "  he  muttered  to  him 
self.  "  The  old  pirate!  " 

He  made  his  way  to  the  topsail-sheet,  and 
shook  it ;  it  was  like  a  rod  of  iron. 

"  Couldn't  budge  it,  if  I  wanted  to,"  he 
said  to  himself.  "  I  wonder  how  long  that 
sail's  going  to  stand  all  this." 

He  started  forward,  shot  in  under  the  lee 
of  the  center-house  as  a  great  green  sea  came 
over  the  rail,  and,  dripping,  mounted  to  the 
forecastle-deck.  The  lookout  stood  with  his 
arms  clasped  about  the  capstan-head,  staring 
straight  ahead.  In  his  yellow  oilskins,  he 
had  the  look  of  a  wooden  man,  washed  by  the 
seas,  immobile,  without  sensation. 

Medbury  took  him  by  the  shoulder,  and  he 
barely  turned  his  head.  His  face  was  as 
208 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

emotionless  as  his  figure;  only  his  eyes 
showed  life. 

"  You'll —  "  Medbury  lowered  his  head 
as  he  began  to  shout,  for  a  sheet  of  spray 
sprang  at  his  face  like  a  cat,  blinding  him 
and  making  him  gasp.  Then  he  felt  the  deck 
slipping  into  a  bottomless  abyss,  and,  open 
ing  his  eyes,  saw  the  jibboom  disappear,  then 
the  bowsprit,  while  over  the  bow  rolled  a 
great  green  wave,  shot  with  white,  and  irradi 
ated  with  phosphorescence.  Almost  to  the 
waist  it  buried  them,  while  they  stood  for 
what  seemed  an  interminable  time,  clasping 
the  capstan,  with  the  dragging  water  roaring 
about  them.  The  strange  fancy  flashed 
across  Medbury 's  mind  that  it  was  like  being 
on  the  nose  of  a  gigantic  mole  frantically 
burrowing  underground.  Then  the  bow  rose 
again,  shook  itself  free,  and  Medbury  and 
the  sailor,  unlocking  their  grip  on  the  cap 
stan,  looked  at  each  other. 

11  You'll  have  to  get  out  of  this,"  shouted 
209 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Medbury,  finishing  what  he  had  begun  to  say. 
The  man  nodded. 

11  That  was  the  first  bad  one,  sir,"  he 
yelled  back.  "  I  don't  know's  I  mind  bein' 
drownded,  but  I  don't  want  to  be  speared  to 
death."  He  looked  aloft,  where  the  lighter 
spars  and  sails  seemed  like  a  falling  arch 
above  him.  "  I've  been  expectin'  to  get 
that  royal-yard  through  my  back  for  the  last 
hour.  Couldn't  hear  it  if  it  did  tumble  — 
in  all  this  noise." 

"  Well,  you'll  have  to  get  out  of  this," 
Medbury  repeated  mechanically.  '  *  Go  up  to 
the  top  of  the  center-house.  You'll  be  safe 
there." 

They  made  their  way  down,  the  man  going 
up  to  his  station,  and  Medbury  aft. 

"She's  burrowing  a  good  deal,"  he  shouted 
in  the  captain's  ear  —  "  like  an  old  mole." 

The  captain  nodded. 

' '  Good  reason, ' '  he  replied. 

"  What  did  you  say?  " 
210 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  I  said,  '  Good  reason.'  There's  a  lot  of 
heft  in  this  wind. ' ' 

"  I  sent  the  lookout  up  to  the  top  of  the 
center-house,"  Medbury  now  called.  "  No 
place  for  him  forward." 

"  That's  right,"  answered  Captain  March; 
then  he  nodded  his  head  to  show  that  he  had 
heard  and  approved. 

The  watch  was  changed  at  twelve,  and  the 
second  mate  came  on  deck,  but  Medbury  still 
lingered.  Captain  March  would  not  leave  the 
wheel.  At  three  bells  Medbury  sounded  the 
pumps  again,  and  reported  a  full  three  and 
a  half  feet  of  water  in  the  hold.  It  had 
gained  two  inches  in  three  hours. 

Captain  March  merely  nodded  when  he  was 
told,  and  turned  his  inscrutable  face  aloft. 


211 


XII 

THE  night  was  dragging  on  toward  the 
hour  when  the  watch  on  deck  is  the 
hardest  to  bear.  In  his  weariness  o£  body 
and  mind,  Medbury  had  grown  indifferent  to 
the  tremendous  rush  of  the  wind.  The  noises 
of  the  night  no  longer  seemed  near  him,  but 
far  off,  muffled  by  some  strange  mental  wind 
break  that  hedged  him  in  as  if  by  a  wall. 
Once  or  twice  he  caught  himself  nodding,  and 
looked  up,  startled,  to  take  a  turn  or  two 
across  the  deck.  His  mind  was  tense  with 
the  mental  strain,  and  the  changing  of  the 
men  at  the  pumps,  or  any  pause  in  the  monot 
ony  of  the  uproar,  irritated  him,  as  the  stop 
ping  of  a  railroad  train  at  stations  affects 
one  dozing  through  a  long  journey.  He  was 
212 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

not  afraid,  —  he  had  even  begun  to  exult  in 
the  self-control  of  his  superior,  seeing  in  his 
perfect  handling  of  his  vessel  something  un 
canny,  even  godlike,  —  yet  he  was  all  the 
while  keenly  alive  to  the  thought  that  Hetty 
lay  below,  within  the  circle  of  impending  dan 
ger.  It  was  like  being  compelled  to  run  for 
one's  life  under  a  great  weight. 

It  was  past  four  bells  when  the  maintopsail 
split  with  a  sharp  report  like  musketry-fire, 
and,  looking  up,  they  saw  black  space  where 
just  before  they  had  seen  a  gray  hollow  of 
canvas  loom  through  the  night.  A  ragged 
fringe  of  gray  flapped  along  the  bolt-ropes, 
whipping  straight  out  in  the  force  of  the  gale. 
They  let  tack  and  sheet  go  with  a  rush,  and 
strove  to  clew  up  the  topsail,  trying  to  save,  in 
the  stoical  following  of  habit,  what  was  no 
longer  worth  saving. 

Medbury  came  aft  when  they  had  clewed 
up  what  remained  of  the  sail.  It  seemed 
ludicrous  to  try  to  stow  that  frazzled  bit  of 
213 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

whipping  canvas.  He  went  close  to  the  cap 
tain. 

**  I  didn't  stow  it,  sir,"  he  shouted  in  his 
ear.  "  Didn't  seern  worth  while  to  send  a 
man  aloft.  No  place  for  him.  Nothing  but 
a  rag  left." 

"  No,  no,"  the  captain  roared.  "  That's 
right.  Don't  want  to  expose  anybody  more'n 
we  can  help."  His  voice  seemed  far  away  — 
detached,  as  it  were,  in  some  strange  manner. 

Medbury  still  lingered  near.  He  was  a  bit 
excited,  and  wished  to  talk. 

"  Steer  any  easier,  sir?  "  he  roared. 

Captain  March  nodded,  then  he  leaned 
toward  his  mate. 

"  Yes,  "he  yelled.  He  nodded  aloft.  "Been 
expecting  that."  Then,  for  the  first  time  in 
his  life,  he  became  communicative  as  to  his 
plans  at  sea.  "  It's  like  this,"  he  went  on: 
<  <  We  Ve  got  five  hundred  miles  to  run  in  this 
craft  or  an  open  boat.  I'll  make  it  in  this, 
if  I  can.  Got  to  take  some  risk,  you  know. 
214 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

Can't  afford  to  take  in  sail  as  long  as  she 
carries  it.  When  it  goes  of  its  own  accord, 
well  and  good.  Can't  help  that." 

Medbury  had  begun  to  long,  with  an  inde 
scribable  sense  of  weariness,  for  the  coming 
of  day.  Once,  as  he  looked  eastward,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  the  curtain  of  darkness 
had  lifted :  the  crests  of  the  waves  no  longer 
showed  a  vivid  contrast  to  the  black  body  of 
the  watery  waste,  but  both  were  fading  into 
a  neutral  tone  of  gray,  and  objects  on  board 
began  to  have  more  definite  outlines.  Then 
all  at  once  the  royal  flew  out  of  its  bolt-ropes, 
like  a  hound  loosened  from  its  leash,  and 
went  twisting  and  snapping  into  the  night. 

Medbury  saw  the  yard  lowered  to  its  place 
and  all  things  made  snug  forward.  As  he 
passed  under  the  foresail  to  go  aft  again,  he 
had  to  brace  himself  against  the  wind,  which 
drew  under  the  sail  like  a  great  flue.  Every 
cord  of  the  sail  seemed  vibrant  with  sound; 
and  as  he  staggered  on,  out  of  the  tail  of 
215 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

his  eye  lie  watched  the  mainsail  tug  at  its 
sheet,  and  boom  and  gaff  swing  up  like 
straws.  As  his  head  rose  above  the  top  of 
the  house,  he  saw  that  Captain  March's  eyes 
were  following  him,  and  he  turned  his  own 
away. 

"  If  he  sees  me  watching  that  mainsail," 
he  said  to  himself,  "  he'll  think  I'm  wonder 
ing  why  he  doesn't  take  it  in."  He  smiled 
grimly.  "  Well,  that  would  be  God's  truth; 
but  he  sha'n't  know  it."  So  he  stood  and 
gazed  steadily  seaward. 

Now  it  was  surely  day  —  day  that  showed 
itself  in  a  gray  sea  leaping  against  a  gray 
sky.  A  driving  mist,  too  vaporous  to  be 
called  rain,  gave  the  same  neutral  tone  to  the 
vessel,  which  seemed  to  have  lost  her  individ 
uality  overnight.  She  had  the  tired,  lifeless 
look  of  the  men  on  her  deck;  and  as  she 
groaned  and  whined  along  the  watery  road, 
her  aspect  was  at  once  human  and  wholly 
sad.  Though  they  were  far  to  the  south,  the 
216 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

mist  was  cold  upon  their  faces.  Now  and 
then  a  dash  of  spray  flew  across  the  quarter 
deck,  and  its  greater  warmth  was  pleasant  in 
comparison.  By  eight  o'clock  the  water  in 
the  hold  had  gained  six  inches,  and  the  crew 
were  beginning  to  lose  heart. 

The  group  that  gathered  in  the  cabin  that 
day  had  the  restlessness  of  people  waiting  to 
start  on  a  long  journey.  In  her  growing  fear, 
Mrs.  March  hungered  for  companionship; 
she  steadily  kept  to  the  cabin,  refusing  to 
go  to  her  room,  but  half-sat,  half-reclined 
upon  the  lounge,  and  watched  the  wooden 
walls  reel  about  her.  Whenever  an  unusually 
heavy  sea  rolled  them  down,  she  gripped  the 
back  of  the  lounge  and  prayed  in  silence; 
and  when  it  passed  she  looked  about  her  with 
a  spent  face.  Hetty  and  Miss  Stromberg 
sat  in  steamer-chairs,  talked  a  little,  and 
sometimes  laughed  without  reason ;  from  time 
to  time  they  staggered  to  their  room,  never 
remaining  long,  or  losing  for  a  moment  the 
217 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

aspect  of  being  about  to  do  something  quite 
different.  Drew  tried  to  be  cheerful,  but  felt 
that  he  was  only  inane ;  now  and  then  he  read 
in  a  book  that  at  other  times  he  held  closed 
over  his  finger.  All  day  Lieutenant  Strom- 
berg  sat  at  the  table  and  played  solitaire, 
resolutely  forbearing  to  cheat  himself,  being 
restrained  by  the  thought  that  he  might  be 
near  his  last  hour.  At  times  he  made  jokes 
that  no  one  seemed  to  understand,  and  then 
looked  up  wonderingly  when  he  laughed 
alone. 

It  was  afternoon  when  Hetty,  unable  longer 
to  bear  the  thought  of  the  dark,  close  cabin, 
—  all  the  windows  had  now  been  battened 
down  and  the  skylight  covered,  —  made  her 
way  to  the  forward  companionway,  and, 
opening  the  doors,  looked  out  upon  the  deck 
with  eyes  wide  with  wondering  fear.  The 
leeward  rail  was  level  with  the  sea,  which 
boiled  about  it ;  the  deck  ran  like  a  mill-race. 
The  sky  was  lost  in  the  driving  mist,  which 
218 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

closed  about  them  in  a  gray  wall  that  seemed 
like  a  barrier  to  hide  the  impending  dangers 
beyond.  Clinging  to  the  door,  she  stepped 
out  upon  the  deck  and  glanced  aft.  The 
wind  beat  her  down  like  a  flower-stalk,  and 
she  crouched  upon  the  door-step.  But  Med- 
bury  had  seen  her,  and  hurried  to  her  side. 

"  You  mustn't  stay  here;  you  know  you 
mustn't,"  he  protested.  "  We  may  ship  a 
sea  at  any  time."  He  himself  was  dripping, 
and  his  face  was  rosy  with  the  damp  wind: 
he  looked  like  Neptune's  very  brother. 

"Yes,"  she  cried;  "yes;  I'll  go  in  a 
minute.  I  couldn't  stand  it  down  there  an 
other  second."  She  lifted  her  face  above 
the  house  for  an  instant,  and  nodded  aft. 
"  What  is  that  for!  " 

Above  the  taffrail,  from  quarter  to  quarter, 
a  stout  piece  of  canvas  had  been  stretched 
between  two  upright  poles,  shutting  off  the 
outlook  astern.  Medbury  glanced  toward  it 
before  he  replied. 

219 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  That?  "  he  said.  "  Oh,  to  keep  the  spray 
off  the  glass  of  the  binnacle.  It  clouds  it  so 
the  men  can't  read  the  compass."  It  did 
not  seem  to  him  wise  to  tell  her  that  it  was 
to  keep  the  helmsmen  from  glancing  over 
their  shoulders  at  the  following  seas,  and 
perhaps  losing  their  nerve  at  a  critical  mo 
ment.  "  Please  go  down  now;  it  makes  me 
nervous  to  see  you  here." 

She  crouched  down  upon  the  door-step  and 
looked  up  at  him  with  a  smile. 

"  I  didn't  suppose  you  were  ever  nervous," 
she  told  him. 

* '  Well,  I  am,  about  you  —  any  woman,  in 
a  sea  like  this." 

"  Oh,"  she  murmured,  and  looked  away, 
thinking  of  his  qualifying  "  any  woman." 
He  had  never  spoken  like  that  before  — 
classed  her  with  other  women.  It  showed 
that  he  had  accepted  the  situation,  and  she 
told  herself  that  she  was  glad ;  nevertheless, 
it  was  not  an  unmixed  gladness :  for  the  first 
220 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

time  she  felt  that  something  had  gone  out 
of  her  life  that  she  had  always  calmly  ac 
cepted  as  being  as  unchanging  as  her  native 
hills.  Yet  it  seemed  unreasonable  that  it 
should  sadden  her.  With  a  little  shrug  of 
impatience  she  put  the  thought  away  just  as 
he  leaned  to  speak  to  her  again. 

"  Won't  you  go  below  now,  Hetty?  "  he 
said,  with  a  touch  of  impatience.  "  I  can't 
stay  here." 

"  I've  not  asked  you  to,"  she  replied. 

11  You  know  what  I  mean  well  enough," 
he  said.  ' '  I  can 't  leave  you  here  alone.  You 
are  a  little  tease,  for  all  you  can  be  so  dig 
nified  at  times." 

"  If  you  call  me  names,  I  shall  certainly 
be  dignified,"  she  declared.  She  looked 
away  as  she  added:  "  You  wouldn't  call  Miss 
Stromberg  a  tease,  I'm  sure." 

"  She's  a  little  flirt,"  he  answered 
promptly. 

"  How  do  you  know?  "  she  asked. 
221 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Oh,  I  just  think  so.  The  dominie  says 
she  isn't,  though.  It's  only  fair  to  say  that," 
he  replied. 

"  I  wondered  what  men  found  to  talk  about 
so  much,"  she  said. 

He  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  answer 
this,  but  stood  looking  out  over  the  deck  with 
unseeing  eyes.  A  wave  broke  at  the  side, 
leaped  up,  and  swept  across  the  deck  in  a 
sheet  of  spray. 

She  gasped  as  it  struck  her  face,  and  then 
she  laughed. 

"  You  see,"  he  warned  her.  "  The  next 
time  it  may  be  worse." 

11  It's  better  than  that  stuffy  cabin,"  she 
answered,  feeling  an  exhilaration  in  the  salt 
spray  and  the  wind.  There  was  comfort  in 
his  presence,  too,  though  she  hardly  ac 
knowledged  it  to  herself.  It  had  needed  this 
storm  and  the  danger  to  bring  back  to  her 
all  her  old  ideals  of  manliness,  cherished  in 
her  girlhood  in  the  little  seaport,  but  weak- 
222 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

ened  by  her  later  acquaintance  with  a  widely 
different  life. 

She  looked  up  suddenly  and  said: 

"  Can't  we  still  be  friends,  Tom  —  just 
friends?  " 

"  I'm  your  friend,"  he  answered.  He  did 
not  look  toward  her  as  he  spoke. 

"  You  wouldn't  speak  to  me  yesterday. " 

1 '  I  was  a  fool, ' '  he  said,  still  looking  away 
from  her. 

"  It  hurt  me,"  she  said.  She  paused,  but 
he  did  not  speak,  and  she  went  on :  ' '  We  can 
always  be  friends,  then,  can't  we?  " 

For  a  moment  he  did  not  speak  or  look  at 
her. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said  at  last;  "  we'll  be 
friends.  I'm  going  back  to  the  old  long  voy 
ages  again  as  soon  as  I  can  —  in  Santa  Cruz, 
if  your  father  will  let  me  off.  In  a  year  or 
two,  or  perhaps  three,  I  may  go  back  home> 
and  we  may  meet  on  the  street,  and  shake 
hands,  and  smile,  and  you  will  go  away  satis- 
223 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

fied.  *  He's  my  friend  yet/  you  may  say, 
and  maybe  think  of  me  again  in  a  year  or 
two,  or  perhaps  meet  me  and  bow  as  we  pass. 
Or,  more  likely,  you  will  go  away,  and,  com 
ing  back  again  after  a  long  time,  meet  a  bent, 
brown  old  man  and  not  recognize  him.  Or 
you  may  ask  about  me,  and  be  told :  '  Oh,  he 
died  long  ago,  in  the  South  Pacific  or  Japan, 
or  some  other  God-forsaken  place.'  '  I  knew 
him  long  ago,'  you'll  say,  and  then  go  on 
asking  about  others.  I  guess  that's  what 
friendship  like  ours  comes  to  mean." 

He  turned  to  her  as  he  ceased,  and  saw  her 
rising  to  a  stooping  position  under  the  low 
sliding-hood.  Her  face  was  white. 

"I'm  going  below  now,"  she  said. 

"  It's  best,"  he  answered;  "I'm  afraid  to 
have  you  here." 

She  descended  two  steps  and  then  turned. 

"  You  are  cruel,"  she  said.  Her  voice 
trembled. 

"  What  did  you  say?  "  he  asked. 
224 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

He  leaned  over  toward  her,  for  the  gale 
had  drowned  her  words. 

"  I  said,  *  You  are  cruel.'  " 

"  Oh,"  he  said  vaguely,  and  watched  her 
as  she  disappeared  below. 


225 


xin 

IN  the  cabin  Lieutenant  Stromberg  was  still 
playing  solitaire ;  at  the  opposite  side  of 
the  table  his  sister  sat,  with  Drew  beside  her, 
reading  aloud,  as  she  took  a  lesson  in  English. 

"  Da  sea  grows  sto'-mee,  da  lit'  ones  mo-own, 
But,  ah-h,  she  gafe  me  nef-fair  a  lo-o-ok, 
Faw  her  eyes  weh  seal'd  tow  da  holy  bo-o-ok ! 
Loud  prays  da  pries' ;  shot  stahnds  da  do'. 
Coam  avay,  chillen,  call  no  mo' ! 
Coam  avay,  coam  da-own,  call  no  mo' !  " 

"  Yo'  pro-nouns  doze  d  in  '  chillen  '?  " 
Her  concerned  eyes  flashed  an  anxious  look 
up  at  Drew. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  —  "  '  children.'  " 

"  Chil-d'en.    Iss  das  mo'  betteh?  " 

He  bowed  gravely,  but  said : 
226 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  You  must  pronounce  the  r,  too." 
She  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  laughed. 
"  Ah   t'ink   doze   ahs   ve'y   difficult  tow 
pro-nouns.     Alone,  no;    but  wiz  doze  ot'er 
let's  doze  bec-ome  los'."    She  laughed  again. 

"  Coam  avay,  chil-dahn,  call  no  mo' ! 
Coam  avay,  coam  da-own,  call  no  mo' ! " 

She  turned  a  bright  look  upon  Hetty. 

"  Meesteh  Drew  all  tarn  rid  doze  poetry; 
so  Ah  say  tow  tich  me  doze  lang-widge  mo' 
betteh,"  she  explained.  "  Ah  was  tich  tow 
rid  doze  Anglish  by  ma  home  tow  Denmahk, 
but  Ah  leahn  tow  spik  eet  off  ma  black  maid 
tow  St.  Croix.  She  spik  ve'y  nize,  but  so 
sho'tly,  Ah  unnehstahnd  heh  not  alwis." 

"  Shortly?  "  repeated  Hetty,  in  doubt. 

"  Fastly,  rapidly,"  explained  Lieutenant 
Stromberg,  looking  up  from  his  cards.  *  *  Ma 
sisteh's  Anglish  iss  only  a  second  coosin 
off  das  real  Anglish  —  second  coosin 
twice  remove'  —  t'r-rough  DenmaT-r-k  and 
227 


UNDEE  BOOKING   SKIES 

Afr-r-rica."  Lieutenant  Stromberg  knew 
his  r's. 

"  I  think  she  speaks  beautifully,  with  such 
opportunities,"  Hetty  replied,  with  spirit. 

Miss  Stromberg  beamed  her  thanks. 

"  Ah  t'ank  yo'  exceeding"  she  said.  She 
looked  at  her  book,  sighed,  looked  up  again, 
and  continued:  "  But  doze  poetry  mek  me 
tow  haf  doze  sadness  —  me."  She  sighed 
again  and  shook  her  head.  "  Yo'  lak  doze 
poetry?  " 

11  Not  always,"  Hetty  answered  frankly. 

The  questioner  laid  the  book  hesitatingly 
on  the  table,  and  her  hands  drifted  together 
in  her  lap. 

"  Ah  t'ink  das  iss  mos'  coh'ect,"  she 
agreed.  "  Eet  iss  not  alwis  possible  tow  lak 
eet  when  yo'  s'all  t'ink  off  ot'er  t'ings  — 
doze  noise'  and  stohms,"  she  explained. 

"  Yet  yo'  s'all  desire  to  heah  doze  noise' 
ofer  once  mo'  when  yo'  rich  St.  Croix,"  said 
the  lieutenant,  without  looking  up  from  his 
228 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

game.  "  l  Ah,  doze  beau-tiful  noise'!  '  yo' 
s'all  say  —  *  so  poe^cal!  '  "  He  laughed 
mischievously. 

"  We  shall  miss  many  things  when  we 
reach  St.  Croix, ' '  said  Drew,  looking  at  them 
and  smiling. 

Hetty  glanced  at  him,  then  she  leaned  for 
ward  and  put  her  hand  on  the  Danish  girl's 
arm. 

"  We  shall  miss  you,"  she  said  softly. 

' '  Ah,  no !  "  Brother  and  sister  spoke  to 
gether.  He  turned  and  bowed  to  his  sister 
smilingly. 

"  Ah,  no!  "  she  repeated;  "  yo'  s'all  coam 
at  our  house  alwis ;  da  do '  s  'all  stahnd  wide 
faw  yo'  fawefer."  Her  eyes  included  them 
all  in  the  invitation. 

* '  Ah  wass  going  tow  spik  doze  sem  lak  ma 
sisteh,"  said  the  brother,  with  a  magnificent 
bow.  . 

"  I  shall  bring  the  book,"  said  Drew,  touch 
ing  it.    ' '  It  may  go  better  there. ' ' 
229 


UNDER   EOCKING   SKIES 

"  Shuah-lee!  "  laughed  the  Danish  girl. 
"  And  yo'  s'all  rid  eet  in  doze  gahden,  among 
doze  floweh'  mos'  beautiful,  wiz  doze  o'ange- 
tree'  and  t'ibet-tree'  meking  doze  cool 
shadow,  and  doze  sea-watah  fah  be-low 
shining  in  da  sun.  And  noise  —  yo'  s'all 
heah  on-lee  doze  sea-watah  mu 'raw 'ing 
soft-lee,  and  doze  fountains  whispehing,  and 
possibly  a  lil'  song  ofehhead,  and  maybe 
some  dahkies  pahssing  fce-hin'  doze  high  wall, 
calling  tow  sell  yo'  some  t'ings  ve'y  nize  — 
and  nut 'in'  mo'." 

11  Hot  arepa!  hot  arepa  dem!  Ya  da  hot 
arepa!  "  In  a  high,  slurring  singsong  Lieu 
tenant  Stromberg  gave  the  cry  of  the  negro 
women  street-venders. 

"  Yas;  das  iss  eet,"  said  his  sister.  "  Yo' 
t'ink  das  iss  nize?  " 

"  Ah,  it  would  be  living  poetry!  "  Drew 
answered. 

She  smiled,  looked  up,  caught  his  gaze ;  her 
own  dropped  to  her  hands  clasped  in  her  lap. 
230 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Das  iss  mo'  nizeh  dan  heah?  "  she  asked 
demurely. 

"  I  shall  never  want  to  go  away,"  he  told 
her. 

11  And  when  doze  hurricane  coam,"  began 
her  brother,  1 1  how  —  ' ' 

"  Sh-h!  "  she  exclaimed,  while  her  eyes 
bubbled  with  laughter.  "  Why  spik  off  doze 
when  we  go-ing  in-vite  peop'  at  ouah  house? 
Possibly  doze  coam  not  aany  mo'  —  doze 
huh  'icane. ' ' 

' '  Possibly  not, ' '  agreed  her  brother. 

11  Aanyway,"  she  continued  triumphantly, 
"  doze  huh 'icane  nefer  hu't  us." 

For  a  moment  Mrs.  March  had  forgotten 
the  rolling  vessel  and  the  threatening  sea. 
' '  The  little  tyke !  ' '  she  said  to  herself,  smil 
ingly;  but  her  daughter  spoke  aloud. 

"  Why  do  you  make  such  a  beautiful  pic 
ture  of  it?  "  she  asked.  "  Don't  you  know 
that  I  must  go  back  to  the  cold  and  the 
snow?  " 

231 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

Miss  Stromberg  laughed,  and  shook  her 
head. 

"  Yo'  s'all  cah  not,"  she  answered.  "  Yo' 
s'all  say,  '  Oh,  doze  huh'icane!  '  Wheah  da 
heaht  iss,  da  iss  da  beautiful  pictu'.  So 
womens  ah  med, ' '  she  added  wisely. 

' '  And  is  your  heart  there  —  in  that  gar 
den?  "  Drew  asked.  He  smiled. 

She  laughed  again. 

"  "Tiss  joost  heah  —  and  unfast,"  she  re 
plied,  and  placed  her  hand  on  her  breast. 
11  Eet  hass  no  feexed  'abitation." 

On  deck  they  heard  the  tramp  of  feet  going 
aft,  and  then,  as  the  starboard  side  lifted, 
the  cry  of  the  crew  hauling  in  the  main  sheet, 
and  the  hoarse  croak  of  the  blocks.  Before 
the  tramp  was  heard  again,  going  forward, 
Captain  March  came  from  his  room  and  hur 
ried  up  to  the  deck. 

Medbury  walked  over  to  his  side. 

"  The  wind's  hauled  around  a  little,  sir. 
"We  couldn't  keep  the  course." 
232 


Captain  March  looked  aloft,  then  glanced  at 
the  compass. 

He  gave  no  sign  of  having  heard.  Sud 
denly  he  stopped  short  and  gazed  forward. 

"  What's  that  contraption  you  got  there, 
Mr.  Medbury?  "  he  asked. 

' '  One  of  the  flanges  of  the  pump  gave  'way, 
sir,"  answered  the  mate,  "  and  we  couldn't 
use  but  one  bar;  so  I  rigged  up  that  whiz- 
jig.  It's  better  than  one  bar,  and,  besides, 
we  can  work  it  from  the  poop.  If  things 
should  get  much  worse,  the  men  would  drown 
on  the  main-deck." 

"  Does  the  water  gain  on  you?  "  the  cap 
tain  asked. 

* '  About  the  same  —  inch  by  inch.  But 
she's  getting  a  little  logy,  it  seems  to  me; 
and  if  the  wind  should  go  down  or  haul 
ahead  —  ' '  He  paused  in  gloomy  silence. 

11  It  won't,"  said  the  captain. 

He  walked  to  the  rail  and  took  down  the 
marking  of  the  log-line,  and  then  went  below 
233 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

to  lay  out  his  position  on  the  chart.  For  two 
days  he  had  had  no  sun  to  take  an  observa 
tion,  and  could  trust  only  to  dead-reckoning. 
Carefully  he  laid  out  his  course  and  marked 
the  distance  traveled,  then  tried  to  calculate 
how  far  the  heave  of  the  sea  and  the  set  of 
the  current  had  modified  his  right  position. 
At  last  he  pricked  out  the  spot  with  all  the 
appearance  of  certainty,  made  a  light  ring 
about  the  dot,  and  was  rolling  up  his  chart 
as  his  daughter  came  to  his  side. 

"  Where  are  we  now,  father?  "  she  asked. 

He  looked  at  her  and  smiled. 

"  Just  about  here  or  hereabout,"  he  told 
her. 

She  took  the  chart  from  his  hand  and  un 
rolled  it. 

"  "Where  are  we?  "  she  demanded. 

His  stubby  finger  pointed  to  the  dot. 

"It's  a  long  way  to  go  yet,"  she  sighed. 
"  I  hoped  we  were  nearer." 

As  she  spoke,  the  stern  of  the  brig  seemed 
234 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

to  sink  to  a  great  depth,  swing  wide,  then  set 
tle  again,  and  there  came  a  crash  of  falling 
seas  upon  the  deck,  and  a  wave  went  hissing 
across  the  house,  falling  in  sloppy  cascades 
before  the  window  facing  forward,  which  had 
not  been  battened.  An  instant  later  the  cap 
tain  was  on  deck. 

The  canvas  screen  about  the  taffrail  was 
flapping  loose  from  one  of  the  poles;  Med- 
bury,  with  dripping  oilskins,  was  at  the  wheel 
with  one  of  the  helmsmen,  but  the  other  was 
under  the  lee  rail  with  his  head  down  in  his 
hands. 

"  That  was  a  heavy  one,  sir,"  called  Med- 
bury  as  he  bent  to  the  spokes.  He  straight 
ened  up,  panting,  and  nodded  to  the  man  who 
was  down.  "  Don't  think  he's  much  hurt," 
he  shouted. 

Captain  March  walked  over  to  the  sailor, 
and,  leaning  over  him,  took  him  by  the 
shoulder. 

"  What's  the  matter?  "  he  demanded. 
235 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

The  man  rose  slowly  to  his  feet,  shaking 
himself. 

11 1  struck  my  head  against  the  bitts,"  he 
said  slowly.  "  I  guess  it  stunned  me  for  a 
minute. ' ' 

"  Where?  "  asked  the  captain. 

The  man,  with  fingers  that  trembled,  slowly 
unbuttoned  his  sou'wester,  took  it  off,  and 
fumbled  about  his  head.  The  captain  watched 
him. 

"  Well,  you  better  look  out  next  time," 
he  called  with  mild  severity,  which  stopped 
short  of  positive  reproof.  ' '  I  guess  you  were 
watching  over  your  shoulder  more  'n  you  were 
your  course.  Well,  now  you  go  forward  and 
send  Charlie  aft." 

He  walked  toward  the  wheel,  but  Medbury 
said: 

"  I'll  hold  on  here  a  spell,  sir." 

11  No,"  said  the  captain;  "I'll  take  a  hold. 
Just  get  that  canvas  lashed  up  again,  will 
you?  '  Then  he  took  the  wheel,  which  he  was 
236 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

not  to  leave  again,  except  for  one  brief  mo 
ment,  until  the  end. 

When  Medbury  had  lashed  the  screen  fast, 
Captain  March  nodded  to  him  to  come  near, 
that  he  might  speak. 

"  Better  start  your  topsail-sheets  a  bit," 
he  shouted.  "  They'll  lift  a  little  and  ease 
her.  Give  'em  about  two  feet  —  no  more'n 
that." 

As  the  afternoon  wore  on,  the  wind  in 
creased  in  force  and  the  sea  grew  heavier. 
Now  and  then  a  sharp  shower  swept  past, 
and  ceased  suddenly;  but  the  clouds  did  not 
lift,  and  the  rack  flew  overhead,  low  down, 
like  steam  from  a  huge  exhaust-pipe.  At 
seven  bells  a  topgallantsail-sheet  parted,  and 
by  the  time  the  sail  was  housed  and  the  yard 
lowered  it  was  dusk. 

As  Medbury  prepared  to  go  aft  again,  he 

paused  by  the  fore-rigging  and  looked  up. 

The  canvas  was  thundering  like  a  drum  corps ; 

the  lee  rigging  swung  slack,  but  that  to  wind- 

237 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

ward  was  as  stiff  as  iron,  and  shrilled  like 
a  score  of  fifes  or  roared  like  organ-pipes. 

11  Oh,  shut  up!  "  he  said  aloud,  and  then 
grinned  shamefacedly  at  his  irritability. 

As  he  came  to  the  steps  leading  up  to  the 
poop-deck,  he  paused  and  looked  about  him. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  the  wind  had  suddenly 
ceased,  and  he  could  hear  it  far  away,  roar 
ing  back  a  defiance  through  the  murky  twi 
light.  The  next  moment  he  heard  the  captain 
shouting  to  call  all  hands  and  shorten  sail. 

With  the  crew  increased  by  the  men  from 
the  lost  Danish  bark,  they  had  all  things  made 
snug  and  fast  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  and 
under  maintopmast-staysail  with  the  bonnet 
out,  lower  topsail,  and  foretopmast-staysail, 
they  were  rolling  down  the  long  seas  in 
leisurely  fashion  by  the  time  night  was  fairly 
upon  them. 

Still  panting  with  his  heavy  exertion,  Med- 
bury  was  standing  by  the  taffrail,  looking 
down  at  the  foam  that  now  seemed  only  to 
238 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

creep  by  them,  and  thinking  gloomily  of  the 
water  rising  in  the  hold,  when  suddenly  he 
became  aware  of  an  increase  in  the  weight  of 
the  wind  upon  his  face.  He  looked  up,  but, 
seeing  nothing,  glanced  down  again;  but  in 
that  brief  moment  the  foam  had  disappeared, 
and  he  was  gazing  into  blackness.  He  turned 
quickly,  only  to  see  that  the  same  darkness 
had  swallowed  up  the  men  at  the  wheel  and 
every  part  of  the  vessel.  The  binnacle-light 
was  burning,  but  the  dim  glow  stopped  short 
at  the  slide:  beyond  that  it  seemed  to  have 
no  power  to  go.  With  an  indescribable  sen 
sation  of  being  absolutely  cut  off  from  every 
living  thing,  he  stepped  quickly  toward  the 
wheel,  and,  putting  out  his  hand,  touched  his 
captain.  It  gave  him  a  curious  feeling  of 
intense  relief.  Then  he  heard  Captain  March 
speaking  in  a  calm  voice  that  quieted  him  in 
stantly. 

"  Is  that  you,  Mr.  Medbury?  "  he  said. 
"  What's  wanted?  " 

239 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  It's  getting  black,  sir,"  he  said  — 
"  black  as  a  nigger's  pocket." 

' '  I  noticed  it, ' '  said  the  captain. 

"  It  came  on  all  of  a  sudden,"  the  mate 
went  on.  He  wanted  to  hear  his  voice  and 
the  voice  of  the  captain :  in  some  curious  way 
even  the  trivial  words  seemed  to  mitigate 
the  awful  darkness. 

"  Maybe  you'd  better  get  out  some  lines 
for  the  men  at  the  pumps,  and  make  'em 
fast  across  deck,"  continued  the  captain. 
"  We  can't  afford  to  lose  anybody  overboard. 
And  bring  us  some,  too.  When  you've  done 
that,  just  go  down  to  your  room,  as  if  you'd 
gone  to  fetch  something.  Maybe  it'll  help 
the  women-folks  a  little  to  see  somebody  from 
the  deck  before  it  begins,"  he  went  on  in  a 
matter-of-fact  voice.  "  But  don't  stay.  I 
may  want  you  any  minute." 

In  haste,  and  with  hands  that  fumbled  a 
little,  Medbury  rigged  stout  life-lines  across 
the  deck  for  the  men  at  the  pumps;  and, 
240 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

leaving  straps  for  the  captain  and  his  com 
panion  at  the  wheel,  descended  into  the  cabin. 
He  struck  a  match  in  his  room,  and  looked 
about  him  vaguely,  smiling  to  himself  at  his 
purposeless  errand  at  a  time  when  moments 
were  fraught  with  life  or  death.  He  was  not, 
like  his  captain,  a  man  of  imagination:  his 
mere  passage  through  the  cabin  seemed  only 
a  bit  of  fanciful  foolishness  of  which  he  was 
a  trifle  ashamed. 

His  match  flickered  and  went  out;  for  a 
moment  he  stood  staring  before  him  in  the 
darkness,  hearing  the  voices  of  those  in  the 
cabin  as  they  talked  together.  He  heard 
Drew's  deep  tones,  and  Hetty  replying  to 
them,  and  a  sudden  impotent  rush  of  jealousy 
overwhelmed  him  as  he  thought  that  he  must 
battle  on  deck  in  what  might  be  their  last 
fight,  while  this  man,  who  had  known  her 
barely  as  many  days  as  he  had  loved  her 
years,  would  be  with  her  in  these  last  hours. 
Blindly,  without  looking  to  right  or  left,  he 
241 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

walked  through  the  cabin  and  ascended  to  the 
deck. 

Though  he  had  been  below  only  a  moment, 
an  amazing  change  had  taken  place.  As  he 
seized  the  hasp  of  the  door  to  open  it,  the 
pressure  from  the  outside  was  so  great  that 
for  a  moment  he  thought  that  some  one  was 
leaning  against  it.  He  knocked  on  it  loudly, 
then  pushed  again,  becoming  immediately 
aware  that  the  resisting  force  was  wind. 
Then  throwing  all  his  weight  forward,  he 
squeezed  through,  with  the  door  slamming  to 
behind  him. 

It  was  only  the  beginning.  The  seas  seemed 
to  grow  momentarily  heavier,  and  it  became 
impossible  to  stand  erect  upon  the  deck. 
When  Medbury  went  forward  to  the  pumps, 
as  he  did  from  time  to  time,  he  went  with 
bent  body,  keeping  his  hand  upon  the  rail. 
His  face  was  stiffened  with  salt,  which  clung 
to  his  eyelashes  and  had  to  be  wiped  away 
constantly.  It  became  in  time  no  longer  pos- 
242 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

sible  to  distinguish  sounds :  the  bellow  of  the 
wind,  the  roar  of  the  sea,  the  thunder  of  the 
canvas,  and  the  groaning  of  spars  and  tim 
ber,  became  merged  in  an  indescribable  tu 
mult,  the  waves  of  which,  like  a  great  sea 
of  sound,  seemed  to  rise  about  them  and  beat 
them  down  into  insignificance.  In  this  strange 
melting  away  of  all  the  known  landmarks  of 
his  craft,  Medbury  stood  at  times  helpless  and 
irresolute,  and  doggedly  awaited  the  end. 

To  those  shut  up  in  the  cabin  there  came, 
as  the  night  wore  on,  a  sense  of  impending 
danger.  Once,  unable  longer  to  bear  the  feel 
ing  of  isolation  from  those  who  were  fighting 
on  deck  for  their  lives,  Hetty  made  her  way 
with  difficulty  to  the  companionway,  and, 
mounting  to  the  doors,  tried  them.  Then  she 
turned. 

' '  They  have  locked  us  in !  "  she  cried,  star 
ing  down  at  her  companions.  The  lamp, 
swinging  in  its  gimbals,  cast  only  a  faint  light 
upon  their  upturned,  startled  faces.  Her 
243 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

lips  trembled.  "  It  makes  me  afraid,"  she 
faltered. 

Miss  Stromberg  burst  into  tears.  Hetty 
hurried  down  to  her,  and,  sitting  close  to 
gether  on  the  lounge,  the  two  clasped  each 
other's  hands,  listening.  The  men  sat  with 
closed  eyes  for  the  most  part.  Mrs.  March 
had  long  before  gone  to  her  room. 

Once  there  came  three  unusually  heavy 
seas,  and  as  the  brig  rolled  down  it  seemed 
to  Hetty  that  they  never  would  rise  again, 
and,  closing  her  eyes,  she  prayed  silently. 
Then  there  came  the  long  "  smooth,"  and 
she  opened  her  eyes  and  smiled  upon  her 
companion. 

11  That  is  better,  isn't  it!  "  she  whispered. 

"Ah  do  not  lak  eet,"  Miss  Stromberg 
whispered  back.  "Ah  ahm  affred,  also  — 
me." 

Hetty  patted  her  hands. 

' '  It  will  be  better  soon, ' '  she  said. 

"  Do  yo'  t'ink  Ah  s'all  be  los'  once  mo'?  " 
244 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

asked  the  girl.  "  Ah  ahm  tow  lit'  tow  was'e 
all  doze  sto  'ms  on  —  me. ' '  She  laughed  hys 
terically. 

11  No,  no!  "  cried  Hetty.  "  You  will  be 
home  to-morrow  —  in  that  garden." 

"  Oh,  doze  gahden!  Eet  sims  a  t'ousand 
woilds  f 'om  heah." 

"  To-morrow,"  continued  Hetty,  "  this  will 
seem  like  a  bad  dream." 

"  Ah  pray  Ah  may  slip  mo'  sound-lee," 
she  murmured  laughingly.  "  But  yo'  —  yo' 
haf  doze  cou'age!  "  she  added  admiringly. 

"  I  trust  my  father,"  replied  Hetty.  She 
was  gaining  courage  by  imparting  it. 

"  And  das  young  of/£cer?  " 

li  Yes,"  said  Hetty. 

"  Yo'  lak  him  mooch?  " 

"  I've  known  him  all  my  life." 

"  Das  iss  ve'y  nize."  She  turned  suddenly 
to  Drew.  "  Wass  yo'  t'ink  off?  "  she  asked 
him. 

He  looked  at  her  and  smiled. 
245 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

' '  I  was  thinking  of  your  garden  just  then, ' ' 
he  replied. 

"  Ah!  "  she  murmured  delightedly.  "  Yo' 
joost  da  sem  lak  us !  ' ; 

1 1  You  were  thinking  of  it,  too  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Dees  ve'y  minute.  Das  iss  ve'y  nize  — 
tow  t'ink  doze  sem  t'ings  altowgeddeh. " 

"  Eet  iss  a  ve'y  nize  gahden,"  said  Lieu 
tenant  Stromberg,  "  but  eet  iss  not  so  nize  as 
yo'  s'all  t'ink.  Nut 'in'  iss,"  he  explained. 
"  Eet  s'all  bec-ome  dull  —  lak  dees,  lak  efer'- 
t'ing.  Me  —  Ah  s'all  play  doze  cahds."  He 
laughed,  and,  taking  his  cards  from  the  glass 
rack,  began  another  game  of  solitaire. 


246 


xrv: 

ONE  by  one  the  idlers  in  the  cabin  went 
to  their  rooms,  and  Drew,  putting  on  a 
storm-coat,  stepped  out  upon  the  deck  from 
the  forward  companionway,  blinded  for  a 
moment  by  the  darkness. 

Slowly  the  shadowy  world  took  on  blurred 
outlines,  and,  turning  his  gaze  to  windward, 
he  saw  gray  flashes  of  foam  leap  high  on  the 
pointed  crests  of  waves,  and  drop  quickly  into 
darkness.  The  gale  tore  at  him  and  beat  him 
down.  He  remembered  that  he  had  seen  a 
sou'wester  in  his  room,  and  went  softly  below 
to  get  it.  As  he  opened  the  door  that  led 
from  the  passageway  to  the  cabin,  Hetty,  with 
swinging  arms,  went  staggering  across  the 
unsteady  floor  toward  the  pantry.  "With  a 
247 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

little  thrill  of  joy  at  finding  her  alone  once 
more,  Drew  hastened  to  her  side. 

She  was  on  her  knees,  peering  about  her; 
but,  startled  by  the  sudden  obscurity  that  fell 
upon  the  room,  she  looked  up  quickly,  to  see 
him  standing  in  the  doorway. 

"  Oh,"  she  exclaimed,  "  how  you  fright 
ened  me!  "  and  turned  to  her  search  again. 
"  I  was  looking  for  something  for  my 
mother, ' '  she  explained  when,  a  moment  later, 
she  rose  to  her  feet.  "  I  cannot  find  it." 
Still  glancing  vaguely  about  her,  she  moved 
toward  the  doorway  and  made  as  if  to  pass 
him;  but  he  did  not  stir. 

"  Can  I  not  help  you?  "  he  asked. 

She  shook  her  head,  but  did  not  look  up. 

He  had  sought  her  with  no  other  purpose 
than  to  be  by  her  side  for  a  moment;  for, 
though  he  had  not  seen  her  alone  since  he 
had  asked  her  to  be  his  wife,  he  knew  that 
this  was  not  the  fitting  hour  for  his  answer : 
but  neither  could  he  let  her  go. 
248 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  I  cannot  bear  to  see  you  suffer,"  lie  ex 
claimed.  "  Do  not  think  our  case  hopeless. 
It  cannot  be.  "We  shall  reach  land  yet. ' ' 

* '  Oh,  you  cannot  know, ' '  she  said  listlessly. 
She  had  no  thought  to  be  indifferent  or  cruel ; 
standing,  as  she  felt,  face  to  face  with  eter 
nity,  her  thoughts  had  passed  him  by.  She 
had  come  to  regions  where  he  was  a  vague 
shadow,  a  part  of  a  world  no  longer  hers. 
She  was  only  the  sailor's  daughter  now;  all 
her  faith  and  dreams  lay  with  those  who  were 
battling  on  the  deck  for  the  lives  of  all. 

Silently  he  stepped  aside,  and  she  went 
quickly  to  her  room,  closing  the  door  behind 
her  and  not  looking  back. 

He  could  not  summon  to  his  mind  a  single 
thread  of  proof;  yet,  as  he  turned  away,  he 
knew  that  unconsciously  she  had  given  him 
her  answer.  The  closing  door  between  them, 
he  told  himself,  was  the  symbol. 

He  was  paler  when  he  went  up  the  com- 
panionway  again,  and  his  lips  were  firmly 
249 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

closed;  but  there  was  no  harshness  in  their 
lines,  and  he  carried  his  head  high :  clearly  he 
would  bear  whatever  life  brought  to  him. 

A  moment  later,  as  he  stepped  into  the 
blinding  darkness  of  the  deck,  a  wave  broke 
near,  and  a  sheet  of  water,  clipped  from  the 
toppling  crest  by  the  wind,  swept  across  the 
house  and  struck  him  like  a  lash.  Staggered 
for  an  instant,  with  his  hand  slipping  from 
the  sliding-hood,  he  dropped  behind  the  house. 

He  was  still  kneeling  on  the  deck,  brush 
ing  the  water  from  his  eyes,  when  he  felt 
rather  than  heard  or  saw  some  one  go  by. 
He  would  be  sent  below,  he  knew,  if  seen  by 
the  captain  or  the  mate ;  and  he  smiled  as  he 
thought  of  his  position,  feeling  like  a  school 
boy  in  mischief  and  in  danger  of  detection. 
Slowly  he  turned,  and,  without  rising, 
watched  the  passing  figure. 

It  was  six  bells,  and  Medbury  had  come  for 
ward  to  change  the  crew  at  the  pumps.  As 
he  stepped  past  the  house  and  made  his  way 
250 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

to  the  life-lines,  he  lifted  his  eyes  and  stopped 
short.  The  pumps  were  deserted.  Then  he 
rushed  forward  and  peered  down  upon  the 
main-deck;  only  the  sloppy  space  showed  it 
self,  unrelieved  by  a  human  figure.  One  of 
the  down-hauls  of  the  whiz- jig,  whipping  in 
the  gale,  snapped  across  his  face,  and  was 
flung  irritably  aside. 

In  the  first  rush  of  his  dismay  the  thought 
came  to  him  that  all  were  lost ;  but  the  possi 
bility  of  four  men  being  swept  away  without 
warning  was  too  much  to  believe,  and  across 
his  mind  there  flashed  the  certainty  that  the 
crew  had  refused  longer  to  work  the  pumps. 
That  they  had  been  losing  heart  had  been 
borne  in  upon  him  increasingly,  and  now  that 
he  stood  face  to  face  with  the  desperate  sit 
uation  he  felt  his  face  grow  hot  with  the  fury 
that  seized  him  and  bore  him  out  of  himself. 
Some  instinct  told  him  that  they  had  taken 
refuge  down  the  booby-hatchway,  and  he 
sprang  to  the  sliding-hood,  thrust  it  back,  and 
251 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

peered  in.  It  was  black  and  still,  but  the  in 
tangible  something  that  betrays  the  presence 
of  human  creatures  seemed  to  pervade  the 
place,  and  he  knew  that  his  quarry  was  there. 
His  voice  choked  with  fury  as  he  yelled : 

*  *  You  damn'  curs  —  you  —  you  —  want  to 
ruin  us  all  ?  Out  of  this  —  quick,  or  I  shoot 
you  down  like  rats  in  a  hole !  ' ' 

No  sound  came  out  of  the  black  interior, 
and  with  a  snarl  of  rage  he  tore  open  the 
door,  splintering  the  peg  in  the  hasp,  thrust 
one  foot  over  the  sill  to  descend,  and  struck 
the  back  of  a  man.  The  next  instant  he  had 
the  man  by  the  collar,  lifted  him  struggling 
to  the  deck,  and  with  a  mighty  swing  sent  him 
forward  into  the  life-lines,  where  he  hung  for 
a  second,  and  then  fell  lightly,  like  a  sprawl 
ing  cat,  to  the  main-deck.  With  a  snarl,  Med- 
bury  swung  himself  into  the  opening,  and 
dropped  between  decks.  Three  men  had  been 
sitting  on  the  steps  below  the  man  he  had 
thrown  out,  and  he  swept  them  off  like  leaves 
252 


UNDEE   ROCKING   SKIES 

from  a  wand,  and  he  heard  their  smothered 
groans  as  he  crushed  them  together  in  a  heap 
on  the  floor.  He  was  in  his  own  province 
now,  for  the  storeroom  was  his  care,  and  he 
could  have  found  a  sail-needle  there  in  the 
dark;  and  as  he  freed  himself  from  the 
sprawling  bodies  under  him,  he  swung  about 
him,  reaching  out,  with  itching  hands,  for  his 
cowed  and  dispirited  crew. 

He  felt  an  arm  encircle  his  legs,  and  kicked 
back  viciously,  feeling  rather  than  hearing 
his  heel  crunch  against  a  face.  The  arm  about 
his  legs  dropped  limp,  and  he  felt  another 
pawing  along  his  shoulders  and  reaching  for 
his  throat.  With  a  quick  thrust  he  found  a 
bristly  face,  and,  striking  straight  with  his 
free  arm,  sent  the  man  tumbling  to  the  floor. 
He  heard  the  sound  of  feet  stumbling  up  the 
stairs,  and  thought  the  fight  was  won,  and  so 
moved  back,  only  to  find  shoulders  and  legs 
clasped  by  other  men.  He  clasped  back,  and 
the  next  moment  was  staggering  about  the 
253 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

place  in  a  hand-to-hand  struggle.  He  kicked 
himself  free  again,  and  with  a  quick  thrust 
forward  threw  himself  to  the  floor,  an  oppo 
nent  under  him.  He  heard  the  sailor's  head 
strike  hard,  felt  his  hold  relax,  and  rose,  pant 
ing,  to  his  knees  as  a  lantern  swung  in  at  the 
door,  and  Captain  March's  voice,  cool  and 
incisive,  called,  *  *  Stop  right  there !  ' '  Look 
ing  up,  Medbury  saw  the  light  of  the  lantern 
shining  along  the  barrel  of  a  pistol,  and  the 
captain's  impassive  face  above  it. 

They  put  every  man  at  the  pumps,  lash 
ing  them  to  the  life-lines,  and,  with  a  belay- 
ing-pin  in  his  hand,  Medbury  stood  guard 
over  them  and  rushed  them  at  their  work. 
Now  and  then  a  fitful  flash  of  lightning 
showed  the  men  and  the  deck  against  a  back 
ground  of  vitreous  green  glare. 

Captain  March  watched  them  a  moment, 
and  then,  placing  his  hand  on  his  mate's 
shoulder,  yelled  at  his  ear.     Even  then  the 
words  seemed  far  away  and  indistinct. 
254 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Keep  'em  going!  Don't  let  'em  slack 
up  a  bit!  "  he  roared.  "  Never  had  such  a 
lot  aboard  a  vessel  of  mine  before.  It  makes 
me  sick." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  shouted  Medbury,  grimly. 

11  Don't  understand  it,"  went  on  the  cap 
tain  in  an  aggrieved,  plaintive  voice;  "  no 
body  could."  He  paused  irresolutely,  and 
then  said:  "  Hurt  you  anywhere?  " 

1 1  Oh,  no, ' '  answered  the  mate.  * '  Guess  I 
rather  enjoyed  it  for  a  change.  Was  pretty 
mad." 

The  captain  nodded,  and  was  turning  away 
when  Medbury  put  out  a  detaining  hand. 

11  How'd  you  know?  "  he  shouted. 

"What?  " 

"  How  did  you  know  about  it  —  the  row?  " 
Medbury  asked  again. 

"  The  dominie  saw  something  was  wrong, 

and  told  me.    Got  your  lantern,  too.    Good 

man  —  seemed  to  know  what  to  do.    Rather 

surprised  me  —  don't  think  they've  got  that 

257 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

sort  of  horse-sense,  as  a  rule.  But  no  busi 
ness  on  deck  to-night.  Told  him  so."  Then 
he  staggered  aft,  and  took  the  wheel  from  the 
second  mate  again. 

Drew  had  gone  below  when  the  crew  went 
back  to  the  pumps;  but  he  was  strangely 
excited.  He  knew  that  he  could  not  sleep, 
and  in  a  state  of  mental  helplessness  he  sat 
for  a  long  time  upon  the  edge  of  his  bunk. 
Something  of  the  significance  of  the  scene  on 
deck  broke  in  upon  him,  and  he  realized  that 
the  crew  had  given  up  hope.  It  was  not  re 
volt,  but  a  dumb,  sheeplike  acquiescence  in 
fate.  In  his  heart  he  was  not  without  a  cer 
tain  sympathy  for  the  men,  feeling  in  the 
overpowering  mastery  of  the  storm  some 
thing  of  the  vanity  of  all  human  endeavor. 
Yet  the  mere  effort  of  holding  himself  in 
check,  aloof  from  all  the  tumult  of  the  deck, 
grew  momentarily  more  and  more  unbear 
able,  and,  rising  at  last,  he  went  up  to  the 
companionway  door  again. 
258 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

He  saw  at  once,  novice  as  he  was,  that  in 
his  brief  absence  the  situation  had  grown 
worse.  There  was  a  constant  sweep  of 
sheeted  spray  across  the  deck,  and  he 
crouched  behind  the  house,  as  he  had  done 
before,  both  for  protection  and  to  avoid 
being  seen  by  the  mate.  He  resented  the 
thought  of  being  ordered  below.  He  could 
see  the  steady  rise  and  fall  of  the  bodies 
of  the  men  working  the  pumps,  and  Med- 
bury  standing  near  them.  It  had  grown 
lighter,  he  perceived,  though  it  was  still  black 
night. 

He  was  beginning  to  grow  drowsy,  and  for 
a  moment  shifted  his  position,  when  suddenly 
the  brig  seemed  to  pause  and  tremble,  then 
spring  to  a  great  height,  and  the  next  mo 
ment  he  had  the  sensation  of  falling  in  a 
dream,  and  heard  Medbury's  voice,  faint, 
muffled,  like  a  voice  coming  from  a  great 
distance  underground,  screaming,  "  Hold 
hard!  Hold  hard!" 

259 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

In  a  second  of  time,  in  the  light  of  the 
foam  that  whitened  the  sea  to  leeward,  he 
saw  the  deck  clearly :  the  men  crouching  low 
above  the  life-lines;  Medbury's  face  turned 
away,  his  hands  grasping  a  line  about  his 
waist,  his  body  braced ;  and  behind  him,  ris 
ing  from  his  knees,  a  man  with  uplifted  arm 
about  to  strike.  The  next  moment  Drew 
threw  himself  forward  upon  the  man,  and  at 
the  same  instant  was  crushed  against  the 
booby-hatch  by  a  great  weight  of  water.  He 
was  held  there  till  his  ears  roared  and  flashes 
of  light  snapped  before  his  eyes  and  his 
breath  was  almost  gone;  then  he  felt  him 
self  lifted  and  whirled  along  for  what  seemed 
a  great  distance,  with  the  body  of  the  man 
he  had  seized  struggling  in  his  grasp.  He 
had  at  that  moment  the  feeling  that  his  end 
had  come,  that  he  was  being  borne  far  from 
the  garden  with  the  fountain,  and  from  that 
other  garden  where  he  saw  his  mother  kneel 
ing  with  a  flower  in  her  hand  and  her  eyes 
260 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

turned  up  to  him  smilingly.  With  these 
scenes  standing  out  vividly  in  a  dream  where 
all  things  else  were  strange  unrealities,  he 
was  suddenly  awakened  to  life  by  the  crash 
of  his  body  against  something  cruelly  hard, 
felt  a  sharp  sting  under  his  arm,  pressed  it 
down  tight,  and  fell  to  the  deck  alone. 

Groping  in  the  darkness,  almost  breath 
less,  half-blinded  by  water,  he  got  to  his  feet 
and  looked  about  him.  He  was  standing  by 
the  lee  rail,  but  the  man  with  whom  he  had 
struggled  was  gone,  blotted  out.  He  remem 
bered  the  sting  in  his  side,  and,  lifting  his 
hand  to  the  place,  struck  the  haft  of  a  knife 
that  still  clung  to  his  coat.  Dazed  and  be 
wildered,  he  drew  it  out,  and,  holding  it  gin 
gerly,  staggered  back  to  Medbury. 

The  mate  looked  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  You  here?  "  he  called.  "  You'd  better 
go  below." 

"  I'm  going,"  Drew  answered.  "  I've  had 
enough."  With  that  he  held  out  the  knife. 
261 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

"  Where 'd  you  get  that?  "  demanded  the 
mate,  taking  it. 

Clinging  to  the  life-lines,  Drew  told  his 
story  briefly,  and  as  clearly  as  was  possible 
in  that  shrieking  gale,  while  Medbury  turned 
the  knife  over  and  over  in  his  hand. 

"  It's  that  damn'  steward's,"  he  said. 
"  He's  the  one  I  threw  out.  I  forgot  him." 
His  voice  trailed  off  in  the  tumult  of  the 
storm,  and  Drew  leaned  forward  to  catch 
the  words ;  then  somehow  he  understood  that 
the  mate  was  asking  about  the  steward. 

1 '  Gone, ' '  Drew  shouted  — '  *  over  the  rail. 
I  couldn't  hold  him." 

"  Damn'  good  thing,"  replied  Medbury, 
and  gently  pushed  him  toward  the  compan- 
ionway. 


262 


XV 

IT  must  have  been  four  bells  when  the 
second  mate  found  his  way  to  Medbury's 
side  and  told  him  that  the  captain  wanted 
him. 

11  I'm  to  stay  here,"  he  added. 

"  Don't  give  them  any  let-up,"  Medbury 
shouted  in  his  ear ;  '  *  and  lash  yourself  fast. 
But  don't  give  them  any  let-up." 

He  struggled  aft,  and  put  his  hand  on  the 
captain 's  shoulder.  In  the  light  of  the  binna 
cle-lamp  he  could  see  that  the  old  man's  face 
was  set  and  grim. 

"  Want  me,  sir?  "  he  called,  and  bent  his 
head  to  hear. 

1 '  Yes, ' '  he  heard.  The  captain  whirled  the 
wheel,  and  then  continued :  ' '  Yes ;  go  aloft ; 
263 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

see  if  you  can  see  the  light  on  Culebra." 
He  paused  to  shift  the  wheel,  straightened  up 
again,  and  went  on:  "  These  seas  run  —  a 
little  like  shoaling  water.  I'd  hate  to  run 
too  far  to  the  westward  and  fetch  up  on 
the  shoals  beyond  Culebra.  Bad  enough  as 
'tis.  Take  a  good  look,  and  hurry  back." 

"  All  right,  sir!  "  Medbury  shouted,  then 
made  his  way  to  the  main-rigging,  and  went 
slowly  and  carefully  up.  The  wind  flattened 
him  against  the  ratlines,  so  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  lifted  arms  and  knees ;  and 
when  the  brig  swung  to  port,  he  seemed  to 
be  clinging  to  the  lower  side  of  the  rigging, 
so  far  did  she  roll  down.  "  Fetlock-shrouds 
all  the  way  up,"  he  muttered  to  himself. 
When  he  was  well  above  the  obstructing 
lower  topsail,  he  looked  ahead. 

Under  him,  near  the  vessel,  the  sea  gleamed 

spectrally  over  its  whole  surface,  but  farther 

away  it  was  black.    The  mist  had  lifted,  and 

he  had  the  impression,  even  in  the  darkness, 

264 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

of  a  wide  horizon-line;  but  no  light  was  to 
be  seen.  He  went  upward  again,  till  the  cross- 
trees  were  just  above  him,  and  looked  once 
more. 

He  gazed  long,  sweeping  the  whole  line  of 
the  sea  ahead  slowly,  pausing  at  each  point, 
that  he  might  not  lose  the  flash.  The  strain 
brought  the  tears  to  his  eyes,  and  he  wiped 
them  with  his  sleeve  and  looked  again.  Some 
thing  in  his  dizzy  altitude,  in  the  task  set 
him  and  its  failure,  impressed  him  more  than 
anything  had  yet  done,  and  he  began  to  lose 
heart. 

"  Father  went  this  way,"  he  muttered, 
"  and  I  guess  it's  good  enough  for  me.  He 
was  a  better  man  than  I  am.  Poor  Hetty !  ' : 
He  looked  for  the  light  again,  giving  all  his 
thought  to  it.  Then  he  sighed.  "  I  wish  to 
God,"  he  went  on,  "  that  we'd  let  her  be! 
She  wouldn't  have  been  here  if  we  hadn't 
teased  her  about  China.  I  wish  she  was  there. 
This  is  no  way  for  her  to  go  —  a  girl  like 
265 


UNDEB   BOOKING   SKIES 

her."  Then  slowly  at  last  he  descended  to 
the  deck. 

At  the  wheel,  Captain  March  was  growing 
unutterably  weary,  and  something  like  the 
same  thoughts  were  passing  through  his 
mind. 

"  Lord,"  he  said,  "  I  haven't  ever  been 
much  of  a  praying  man,  and  I  ain't  going 
to  begin  now,  when  I  can't  shift  for  myself. 
I'd  be  ashamed.  You  know  I've  tried  to  do 
right.  I  ain't  afraid  of  death,  but  I  hate  to 
lose  the  old  boat.  I've  always  had  good  luck, 
and  I  guess  I've  kind  o'  got  in  the  way  of 
thinking  it  was  going  to  last.  I'd  like  to 
have  it.  I  rather  expected  to  die  at  home, 
and  be  buried  alongside  of  mother.  She 
thought  of  that  a  good  deal."  Of  his  wife 
and  daughter  he  would  not  trust  himself  to 
think. 

He  looked  up  as  Medbury  approached  him, 
but  turned  his  eyes  away  immediately.  He 
saw  that  Culebra  light  had  not  been  sighted. 
266 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Medbury  simply  shook  his  head  and 
stepped  back,  but  the  captain  called  him 
nearer. 

11  I  guess  it's  too  early,"  he  said.  "  Go 
up  again  soon,  and  if  we  haven't  made  it 
then,  we'll  try  to  get  a  sounding.  See  if  that 
steward  left  any  cold  tea  below,  will  you?  " 

As  Medbury  went  down  the  companionway 
and  into  the  pantry,  a  figure  came  softly  out 
-of  the  girls'  room  and  tiptoed  across  the 
cabin.  It  was  Hetty.  As  she  neared  the 
pantry,  the  swinging  floor  tripped  her  and 
sent  her  flying  into  the  room  behind  Med 
bury 's  back.  She  giggled  hysterically  as  he 
turned  with  a  start. 

"  Good  Lord,  Hetty!  "  he  exclaimed, 
"  haven't  you  gone  to  sleep  yet?  " 

"  I  couldn't  sleep,"  she  said  plaintively. 
1 '  I  waited  for  you ;  I  thought  you  'd  never 
come."  She  hesitated,  laid  her  hand  on  his 
arm,  and  continued  slowly:  "  Now  I  want 
you  to  tell  me  the  truth  —  the  truth.  I'm 
267 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

not  a  child.  I  can  bear  it.  I  know  we  are 
in  great  danger  —  isn't  it  so?  " 

He  hesitated  and  looked  away,  and  she 
dropped  her  hand  to  her  side. 

"  You  needn't  tell  me;  I  know,"  she  told 
him. 

«  "We've  got  a  chance,"  he  now  explained. 
11  It  looks  bad,  I  know,  but  we've  got  a 
chance.  I  guess  we've  got  an  even  chance." 

"  We  didn't  think  it  would  be  like  this 
when  we  left  the  harbor  at  home,  did  we?  " 
she  continued.  "  It  was  like  a  spring  day, 
and  the  buds  were  getting  red.  I  said  the 
leaves  would  be  full  grown  when  we  got  back 
—  I  said  so  to  mother. ' '  She  choked  back  a 
sob. 

"Don't,  dear!"  he  pleaded.  "Don't! 
You  shall  see  them  yet.  You  shall  live  to 
grow  old  among  your  trees,  Hetty." 

"  But  if  I  don't,"  she  persisted,  "  and  — 
anything  happens,  will  you  try  to  get  to  me  ? 
I  don't  want  to  go  alone,  shut  up  down  here." 
268 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

11  Yes,"  he  answered  solemnly;  "  I'll  get 
to  you.  But  we're  going  to  pull  through  — 
really." 

"  You  will  not  forget?  "  she  insisted. 

He  laughed  softly. 

11  Do  I  ever  forget  you?  "  he  askecj. 

"  No,"  she  said;   "  no  —  and  I  am  glad." 

Then  suddenly  she  flung  her  arms  about 
his  neck,  pressed  her  cheek  against  his,  and 
vanished. 

When  Medbury  reached  the  deck  he  took 
the  wheel  while  the  captain  drank  a  great 
draught  of  the  clear,  cold  tea.  Taking  the 
wheel  again,  he  said  something  that  Medbury 
could  not  understand. 

"  What's  that,  sir?  "  he  asked,  and  leaned 
forward  to  catch  the  words. 

"  I  said  you  were  gone  long  enough. 
Thought  the  teapot  had  got  adrift." 

11  Yes,  sir,"  Medbury  replied.  "  Didn't 
find  it  right  away.  That  steward  never  did 
leave  things  where  you  could  put  your  hand 
269 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

right  on  them.  He  —  "  Medbury  paused. 
He  was  about  to  say  that  it  was  the  last 
of  the  steward's  tea  that  the  captain  would 
ever  drink,  but  changed  his  mind.  "  I  won't 
trouble  the  old  man  to-night, '  •  he  said  to  him 
self.  "  Morning  will  be  time  enough  —  if 
there  is  a  morning." 

The  canvas  screen  above  the  taffrail  had 
whipped  itself  free,  and  the  great  seas,  in 
long  ridges  that  seemed  never  to  break,  fol 
lowed  the  vessel  with  vindictive  hate.  The 
gale  beat  the  men  down,  the  spray  blinded 
them;  now  and  then  a  rush  of  wind,  com 
ing  with  great  fury,  with  a  wailing  cry  that 
sprang  upon  them  like  Indians  from  ambush, 
pressed  them  onward  along  the  rolling  seas 
without  motion  other  than  the  forward  one. 
Then  the  wind,  relaxing  its  hold,  left  the 
brig  wallowing  exhausted  in  the  deep  hollows, 
like  a  collapsing  thing. 

It  was  after  one  of  these  outbursts  that 
Medbury  touched  the  captain's  arm. 
270 


UNDER  ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Going  up  again,"  he  yelled,  and  pointed 
aloft. 

The  captain  nodded,  and  Medbury  slanted 
away. 

He  went  up  deliberately,  turning  his  eyes 
neither  to  right  nor  to  left  until  he  saw  the 
crosstrees  just  overhead.  Stopping,  he  thrust 
a  leg  between  the  ratlines  to  steady  himself, 
and  gazed  ahead  once  more.  It  had  grown 
lighter,  and  he  could  now  plainly  distinguish 
the  blurred  line  where  sky  and  water  met. 
Suddenly,  far  ahead,  he  saw  a  little  point  of 
light  grow  out  of  the  blackness  of  the  night, 
flash  for  a  moment,  and  then  disappear.  His 
heart  leaped  in  exultation,  but  he  waited,  to 
be  sure.  Again  it  flashed  and  disappeared. 
Marking  its  position  well,  he  hurried  to  the 
deck  and  aft. 

"  It's  ahead,  sir,"  he  shouted.  "  Bears  a 
point  off  the  starboard  bow." 

Captain  March  made  no  reply;  his  face 
was  as  immobile  as  a  figurehead.  Whatever 
271 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

exultation  he  may  have  felt  in  the  triumph  of 
his  reckoning,  he  was  never  to  show  it. 

By  eight  bells  the  light  was  abreast,  and 
they  had  hauled  up  on  their  course  past  Sail 
Eock.  The  gale  was  sweeping  down  through 
the  passage,  with  a  threatening  sea,  and 
every  bit  of  rigging  roaring  and  piping  to  the 
tune  of  the  road.  Suddenly,  out  of  the  black 
ness  on  their  port  bow  a  dark  shape  loomed, 
and  the  rock  stood  up  almost  beside  them. 
Without  changing  the  course  a  hair,  they 
drew  near,  passed  under  its  lee,  with  the 
gale  dropping  for  an  instant  and  the  stay 
sails  flapping,  and  overhead,  from  the  rock, 
the  sound  of  startled  sea-birds  crying  in  the 
night.  Then  the  gale  rushed  down  again, 
and  sea  and  rigging  roared  once  more. 

Medbury  gave  a  sigh  of  wonder. 

"  Never  heard  anything  like  that  before," 
he  exclaimed. 

"  You  can  always  hear  them  at  night,  if 
you  go  close  enough,"  said  the  captain. 
272 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"  Well,  it's  stirring,"  replied  Medbury. 
He  walked  to  the  rail  and  scanned  the  sea 
with  the  glass.  "  Pity  there  isn't  some 
thing  more'n  a  *  bug  light  '  on  St.  Thomas," 
he  said  to  the  captain  as  he  walked  over  to 
his  side.  "  We  might  skip  right  in  before 
daybreak." 

Captain  March  glanced  over  the  rail. 

"  By  daybreak  we'll  not  need  St.  Thomas 
light,"  he  said  dryly,  and  bent  to  the  wheel 
again. 

"  The  old  pirate!  "  muttered  Medbury. 
"  He's  chartered  for  Santa  Cruz,  and  that's 
where  he 's  going !  There 's  five  feet  of  water 
in  the  hold,  and  a  tearing  gale  loose,  and  a 
worn-out,  hopeless  crew;  but  he's  going  to 
Santa  Cruz !  If  the  wind  should  flop  around 
or  fall,  we'd  go  to  the  bottom;  but  it  won't. 
It  wouldn't  have  the  cheek  —  not  with  him. 
Well!  " 

The  wind  hauled  over  the  quarter,  and  fell 
slightly;  gradually  the  sea  grew  pale,  and 
273 


TINDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

spars  and  sails  took  on  more  definite  shape ; 
and  then  all  at  once  it  was  day,  and  they  saw 
the  sea  whipped  with  foam,  and  dark  masses 
of  purplish-black  clouds  hanging  low,  with 
dashes  of  gold  firing  their  edges  in  the  east. 
St.  Thomas  had  dropped  behind  them,  and 
far  ahead  the  cone  of  Santa  Cruz,  gray  and 
misty  under  the  darker  clouds,  was  rising 
on  the  edge  of  the  sea. 

Day  came  on  apace;  the  wind  dropped  a 
trifle  more,  but  not  until  the  harbor  of 
Christiansted  took  shape,  with  the  anchored 
ships  lying  thick  in  the  roadstead,  and  the 
bright-hued  little  town  clinging  to  the  hill 
side  above  the  water's  edge,  did  the  captain 
allow  the  girls  on  deck.  As  they  ascended 
at  last,  white  but  happy,  and  looked  out  of 
the  companionway,  glancing  eagerly  about 
them,  the  gray,  worn  vessel,  the  dark,  low- 
hanging  clouds,  the  wind-swept  sea,  appalled 
them,  and  for  a  moment  they  could  not  speak. 

"  Eet  iss  not  lak  home,"  murmured  the 
274 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

Danish  girl;  "  eet  iss  mos'  sad  and  mos' 
desolate." 

''But  it's  land,"  cried  Hetty  — "  land 
after  that  awful  sea!  " 

They  were  silent  for  a  moment  and  ab 
stracted,  gazing  with  curious  eyes  at  the  land 
rising  under  the  bow.  Suddenly  Miss  Strom- 
berg  seized  her  companion's  arm. 

"  Ah!  "  she  cried,  "  doze  flag  —  yonner!  " 
She  pointed  where  the  red,  white-crossed  en 
sign  of  Denmark  flapped  straight  out  in  the 
gale  above  the  little  white  fort  at  the  water's 
edge.  "  And  op  by  doze  tall  tree,"  she  went 
on  eagerly,  "  iss  ma  gahden  —  wiz  yellow 
wall,  and  doze  red  tiles  bey  on'.  Now  eet  iss 
shuah-lee  home." 

"  It  will  be  beautiful  when  the  sun  shines 
—  Christiansted, ' '  said  Hetty. 

Medbury,  going  forward,  stopped  a  mo 
ment  by  the  main-rigging,  where  Drew  stood 
alone.  The  pumps  were  quiet  as  they  made 
harbor,  and  the  crew  were  forward.  Drew 
275 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

was  watching  them  with  curious  eyes.  He 
glanced  up  as  Medbury  drew  near,  and  spoke. 

"  What  will  be  done  with  them?  "  he  asked 
in  a  low  voice. 

"  With  what?  "  asked  Medbury. 

"  With  the  crew.  Wasn't  it  technically 
and  actually  mutiny?  " 

Medbury  laughed. 

"  It  was  a  beautiful  fight,"  he  said;  then 
remembering  their  talk  early  on  the  voyage, 
he  added :  * '  Call  it  a  case  of  brutality,  if  you 
like;  but  it  seemed  necessary." 

"  But  the  men's  part,"  persisted  Drew  — 
"  will  they  not  be  punished?  " 

"  Man  alive!  "  said  Medbury,  "  they  had 
been  standing  many  hours  at  those  pumps 
and  working  as  they'd  never  worked  before 
—  with  no  hope.  That's  punishment  enough, 
isn't  it?  They're  tired  now,  and  very  hum 
ble,  and,  I  guess,  if  the  truth  could  be  told, 
pretty  thankful  to  me.  It  wasn't  mutiny;  it 
was  a  funk.  They  simply  gave  up,  that's  all. 
276 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

But  if  the  old  man  had  done  it,  you  wouldn't 
be  looking  into  Christiansted  roadstead  this 
morning.  There's  a  man  for  you!  "  His 
voice  changed  as  he  added :  "  And  if  it  hadn't 
been  for  you,  God  knows  where  I'd  be  now. 
Over  the  rail  somewhere,  with  the  steward's 
pretty  little  trinket  in  my  back.  I  haven't 
said  much;  but  I  guess  you  know  I'm  not 
going  to  forget  it." 

"  Do  the  ladies  know?  "  asked  Drew.  He 
had  not  mentioned  his  own  slight  scratch. 

"  They  know  he  was  swept  overboard," 
the  mate  replied.  "  I  guess  they  needn't 
know  any  more  at  present."  Then  he  went 
forward. 

Rolling  heavily,  low  above  the  sea,  white 
with  salt,  but  with  the  speed  of  the  gale  in 
her  rain-blackened  sails,  the  brig  flashed  past 
the  shipping,  crowded  with  wondering  sail 
ors,  and  drove  straight  for  the  rocky  beach 
where  the  cocoanut-palms  came  down  to  the 
shore,  and  on  hot  mornings  the  negro  washer- 
277 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

women  lay  their  wet  clothes  upon  the  smooth 
rocks,  and  the  roadstead  resounds  with  the 
echoing  beat  of  their  wooden  paddles.  Then 
all  at  once  Captain  March's  voice  rang  out, 
and  with  sails  shaking  in  the  wind  the  Hen 
rietta  C.  March  shot  toward  a  narrow  ribbon 
of  sand  on  the  shore,  struck,  rolled  slowly, 
and  with  a  long,  grating  sigh  came  safely 
to  land. 

An  hour  later,  as  Medbury  walked  aft,  he 
mounted  the  steps  to  the  poop-deck  before  he 
saw  the  flutter  of  Hetty's  dress  by  the  main- 
rigging.  She  was  looking  steadily  out  to  sea. 

He  stopped  by  her  side. 

11  Here  on  this  side,  when  you  can  see  the 
town  on  the  other!"  he  exclaimed.  "  Haven't 
you  had  enough  of  the  sea?  " 

She  looked  up  and  smiled. 

' '  I  was  looking  beyond  the  sea  —  as  far  as 
home,"  she  said. 

"  Are  you  homesick?  " 

"  No;   only  thinking  of  it." 
278 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

"It's  a  good  thing  to  think  of,"  he  said 

soberly. 

" '  East,  west, 
Hame's  best.' 

After  last  night,  that  sounds  true,  doesn't 
it?" 

"  It's  always  true  —  home  and  the  old 
things,"  she  said  softly  —  "  the  things  we've 
always  known." 

He  looked  down  into  her  face. 

' '  Hetty, ' '  he  said,  * '  last  night  —  you 
rushed  away  so  quickly  —  is  it  all  right?  " 

She  turned  her  eyes  seaward  again  as  she 
answered  in  a  low  voice : 

* '  I  think  so  —  yes. '  ' 

"  Oh,  Hetty!  "  he  whispered. 

She  dropped  her  hand  to  her  side,  and  he 
caught  it  for  an  instant.  Overhead  there 
were  widening  patches  of  blue  sky;  the  sea 
was  taking  on  a  softer  hue.  Behind  them 
the  tropic  world  glowed  in  beauty.  On  the 
beach  little  groups  of  negro  women,  in  white 
279 


UNDER   BOOKING   SKIES 

bandanas  and  bright-colored,  wind-blown 
skirts,  stood  and  watched  the  sailors  aboard 
the  brig,  their  shrill  laughter  and  cries  com 
ing  up  softened  by  the  gale,  now  rapidly 
falling.  The  pumps  were  going  again. 

1 '  It  is  the  only  familiar  sound  —  that 
pump,"  said  Hetty. 

Medbury  scarcely  heard  her. 

"  I  don't  understand  it  yet,"  he  said  at 
last,  turning  to  her.  "  Just  when  I  thought 
it  was  all  over,  suddenly  it  comes  out  right. 
I  don't  understand." 

"  You  never  will,  you  poor  boy,"  she  re 
plied,  smiling  up  into  his  face.  Then  sud 
denly  her  face  grew  grave,  and  she  began 
to  speak  again :  "  It  was  only  when  I  thought 
it  was  all  over  that  I  began  to  think.  Then 
the  storm  came,  and  I  saw  how  much  it  meant 
to  me  that  you  were  near  me,  and  I  was 
almost  sure  that  I  had  made  a  mistake.  I 
think  I  wasn't  quite  sure  until  you  made  that 
dreadful  picture  yesterday  of  what  it  would 
280 


UNDER   ROCKING   SKIES 

be  for  us  to  be  merely  friends.  Then  I 
knew." 

"  You  said  I  was  cruel,"  lie  told  her. 

"  You  were,"  she  said. 

"  But  if  it  brought  us  together,  how —  " 

"  That  doesn't  make  it  any  different." 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  in  his  bewilderment, 
"  I  am  sure  I  shall  never  understand,  as 
you  say;  but  I  do  not  care.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  everything  is  right  at  last.  And 
you  are  sure  that  you  will  not  mind  giv 
ing  up  China,  Hetty,  and  the  missionary 
work?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  said  firmly;  "  I  was  almost 
ready  to  give  that  up  three  days  ago  —  be 
fore  I  thought  I  cared  for  you,  you  know. 
I  have  thought  many  things  in  these  three 
days.  Sometimes,  when  I  think  of  them,  I 
feel  a  thousand  years  old,  as  Miss  Strom- 
berg  says." 

The  door  of  the  cabin  below  them  opened, 
and  they  heard  the  sound  of  Drew's  voice 
281 


UNDEB   ROCKING   SKIES 

and  Miss  Stromberg's  laugh.  She  was  pa 
tiently  waiting  until  she  could  go  ashore. 

11  I  was  beginning  to  think  that  he  was 
going  to  stand  in  my  way,  Hetty, ' '  said  Med- 
bury,  nodding  toward  the  cabin. 

Hetty  laughed. 

"  The  idea!  "  she  cried  in  a  gay  little 
voice.  ' '  I  like  him,  of  course ;  he 's  nice : 
but — "  She  looked  up  and  smiled.  And 
with  the  smile  he  was  satisfied. 


THE   END. 


282 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Form  L9-50m-7,'54(5990)444 


-PS- 


3079   Under  rocking 
T6l7n 


PS 

3079 
T6l7u 


L     QQQ     ™"""'/'////////l 


m    M  ""  "••Mllll  HIM  Hill  mi 

AA    001221007    6 


